On July 12th, the FDIC issued a Special Alert regarding fraudulent demand drafts.

Demand drafts look like checks, complete with legitimate routing numbers and account numbers, however, the signature is usually replaced by "Signature not required". They are issued remotely and draw funds from a bank account.

Financial institutions, retailers and consumers have reported receiving
fraudulent demand drafts issued via Qchex.com, a subsidiary of Neovi Data Corporation, San Diego, California. Qchex.com is an online service that enables users to print checks or send checks by e-mail to recipients, for a fee. All that Qchex requires is for users to provide them with a Fed routing number and bank account number. Legitimate users provide their own account information. Fraudulent users provide hijacked account information that is available on the bottom of any check. The demand draft is then issued under the user's name, drawing on funds from the account provided. It can take up to one month after the draft has been deposited for a fraud of this kind to be discovered.

Staff that are involved in receiving and depositing checks should be alert for demand drafts in general, and those from Qchex in particular. Bank verification should be conducted prior to their acceptance and deposit.

http://www.fdic.gov/news/news/SpecialAlert/2005/sa8205.html