Noblequest Health Foundation, Inc., based in Van Nuys, CA, is a non-profit organization that focuses on low-income patients and helps the homeless reach well to do health care in addition to providing shelter for them. The non-profit organization soon became a victim of bank fraud and forgery. How easy was this to accomplish? Quite easy.
For a measly $5.00, a person can enter the Secretary of State website and change the name of the business owner to their own. As a result, Chase Bank, with all their security protocols, still managed to lose close to a million dollars from Noblequest by giving it to the forger. In addition, Chase froze the business account and decided not to comply to any more of the true owner’s requests. About one hundred of the employees’ checks bounced because of the frozen account which made it extremely inconvenient for individuals during the pandemic season.
The Secretary of State admitted that criminals changing the names of diligent business owners online is a flaw in their system. Moreover, much of the financial market is based on entrepreneurs trusting banks to keep their money safe from forgers.