[Cryptography] Paper check security

[Bill Stewart]

On 10/1/2015 6:32 PM, Peter Gutmann wrote:
> For non-US people, could someone explain how much of a problem this still is?
> It's got to be at least twenty years since I last wrote a cheque, and even
> then it was once or twice a year for special payments.

It doesn't matter whether *you* write checks - what matters is whether 
somebody else can successfully write a check on your account (though 
that's obviously easier if they've got one of your checks to work from.)

I write a few paper checks a year; my wife writes a few a month, to 
various doctors who would prefer to accept checks than pay the fees for 
accepting credit cards.  My bank pays most of the businesses I send 
"checks" to by wire transfer, such as the credit cards and electric 
bill, though for smaller businesses they may mail paper checks.
I assume the medical insurance people send my doctors paper checks 
rather than doing wire transfer, though.