If I had to spot a guess, he was taking advantage of his savings account building interest, he had me and at least 2 other employees doing this. Walmart would charge $6 for the check processing fees, so…
(1500 - 6) * 3 employees = $4482, every week.
I think he was taking advantage of the delay in Walmart’s check verification and racking up his interest buildup on his savings, then turning around and paying back the original amount prior to interest accumulation.
Something like that anyways, that’s the loose understanding I came away with.
Edit: Damn good question though, if someone has a better explanation, by all means please share and educate us…
It could be the business was borderline insolvent and cash from the checks acted as a short term loan from Walmart.
That or he was trying to create the create the illusion of cash flow in order to get the business to qualify for certain kinds of loans. The money from the loans he could subsequently embezzled. Then if the company went bankrupt the creditors would be at a loss.
You’re most likely right. No checking account at any bank has an interest rate that’s going to pay enough interest in 2 days to make such a scheme worthwhile, even if the sums were an order of magnitude greater than the numbers GP quotes. Especially with a $6 check processing fee, which is itself a scam.
Yeah, the interest idea doesn’t make sense, especially since for most of the 21st century the interest on savings accounts has been negligible.
If it cost $6 on the $1500 loan, that’s most (of not all) of the interest right there, and it takes time for that interest to accrue significantly. It’s not going to happen in a couple of days.
If this was the scheme, then your ex-boss was no criminal mastermind.
The boss was using checks from QuickBooks, but was not using their software. He had one of the employees make him a template spreadsheet to line up the fields on the check for his printer.
Whatever he was doing exactly I’m not 100% sure, but he was definitely cooking the books all the way around.
If I had to spot a guess, he was taking advantage of his savings account building interest, he had me and at least 2 other employees doing this. Walmart would charge $6 for the check processing fees, so…
(1500 - 6) * 3 employees = $4482, every week.
I think he was taking advantage of the delay in Walmart’s check verification and racking up his interest buildup on his savings, then turning around and paying back the original amount prior to interest accumulation.
Something like that anyways, that’s the loose understanding I came away with.
Edit: Damn good question though, if someone has a better explanation, by all means please share and educate us…
It could be the business was borderline insolvent and cash from the checks acted as a short term loan from Walmart.
That or he was trying to create the create the illusion of cash flow in order to get the business to qualify for certain kinds of loans. The money from the loans he could subsequently embezzled. Then if the company went bankrupt the creditors would be at a loss.
You’re most likely right. No checking account at any bank has an interest rate that’s going to pay enough interest in 2 days to make such a scheme worthwhile, even if the sums were an order of magnitude greater than the numbers GP quotes. Especially with a $6 check processing fee, which is itself a scam.
It can’t have been for the interest.
Yeah, the interest idea doesn’t make sense, especially since for most of the 21st century the interest on savings accounts has been negligible.
If it cost $6 on the $1500 loan, that’s most (of not all) of the interest right there, and it takes time for that interest to accrue significantly. It’s not going to happen in a couple of days.
If this was the scheme, then your ex-boss was no criminal mastermind.
I just dug a bit deeper looking into it, apparently it falls under the category of fake check overpayment scam…
https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/how-spot-avoid-report-fake-check-scams
The boss was using checks from QuickBooks, but was not using their software. He had one of the employees make him a template spreadsheet to line up the fields on the check for his printer.
Whatever he was doing exactly I’m not 100% sure, but he was definitely cooking the books all the way around.