A bank manager knocks on your door and brings you a check that looks “funny.” You examine it and look for all the tell-tale signs — luckily, you catch this one right away. The check number doesn’t match the number in the magnetic ink.
At least you caught this one.
But we all know how many go unnoticed, contributing to a whopping 84% increase in check fraud in the USA last year. COVID-19 saw a massive rise in check washing, where people switch the names on legitimate checks and cash them fraudulently. But that’s only the tip of the iceberg. Today’s fraudsters have endless ways to cash fake cheques — and it’s your job to stop them.
Our take? You won’t get far analyzing them on a case-by-case basis. There are simply too many for your tellers to catch.
Luckily, check scanner software solutions for banks do some serious numbers catching fraudulent checks. We’ve rounded up our three favorites this year and compared all their features for you to assess.
Why Invest in Check Scanner Software for Banks?
Three reasons: speed, accuracy, and visual analysis.
Guess what check fraudsters have on their side? Time. Even a bank with 50 tellers can’t catch every piece of data that could flag a fraudulent check. You employ humans, not robots — and your staff can’t possibly examine, analyze, and assess a check’s risk for fraud.
Here’s the thing: they shouldn’t have to. Imagine saving daily hours that amount to weeks manually entering and analyzing data. Check scanner software for banks takes care of the collection within seconds. For example, one of ScanWriter’s case studies cites six weeks of time savings for an analyst who had to input 5,000 transactions into the system.
And if we go by one study’s human error rate for manual data entry (3.7%), you could bet 185 out of those 5,000 entries could have had mistakes.
On top of accuracy and speed, the best check scanner software for banks helps you visualize check fraud data. Instead of relying only on long-winded Excel sheets, you can use check scanner software to communicate the “big picture.”
ScanWriter representative Michelle Dulog outlines the platform’s visualization capabilities:
“What’s special about our integration with PowerBI is that it double-checks the data for me. But we have a full library of visualization models…so something like “all transactions” is great for an overview, STAR analysis is useful for mixed accounts.”
Best Check Scanner Software for Banks
ScanWriter
ScanWriter is a check scanning software that saves financial institutions about 90% of labor hours in data capture and analysis — a transparent data point demonstrating the company’s dedication to improving its product. From repeated payer-payee relationships to human-generated amounts, ScanWriter helps clients catch every possible instance of check fraud through its extensive check image analysis.
The company behind ScanWriter, Personable, has done the groundwork and internal improvement to assess the software’s value to financial institutions, including an even ROI upon the first implementation.
ScanWriter converts check images into a cornucopia of perfectly presented data, whether in an Excel doc for easy scrolling or a PowerBI visualization with accessible graphs and tables to communicate the big picture. Any chance of duplicate data, human error, or incorrect conclusions? None. ScanWriter has extensive cleansing algorithms to ensure you’re looking at 100% accurate data.
“Not all the data is normalized in a good table format [speaking of Adobe]. Other software will jumble all the data — so it would be hard to analyze that. ScanWriter can take any document, whether a bank statement or check image…and we can normalize it and put it into a table format so you can analyze the information quickly and effectively,” says Michelle Dulog from ScanWriter.
Brands will pay $5,495 per year per license, along with a $3,234 annual maintenance fee. That might look steep at first glance, but when you save your bank millions of dollars like many of our clients have with our software, it’s worth it. ScanWriter is the only company on our list that displays prices, earning them points for transparency.
Another solid feature of ScanWriter is its unlimited capacity for check images. Meaning? You can analyze thousands of checks within minutes — a vital functionality for today’s prominence of check fraud, even within the same organization.
President of Personable (the company behind ScanWriter) Benjamin Chou shares instances of large-scale check fraud with Forbes, spanning years of different accounts, payers, and checks all within the same scheme.
“Fraud of this level involves numerous banks, different accounts, and billions of fraudulent checks. Modern technology can help banks and organizations detect fraud by automating the data capture and analysis efforts.”
Key Benefits:
- ScanWriter has gained popularity among users due to its capability to interpret handwritten checks. Whether the handwriting is in cursive or block letters, ScanWriter’s advanced recognition technology can accurately capture the essential details.
Additionally, the software can automatically identify and extract the pertinent data even if the computer layouts and fonts vary. In rare instances when a particular piece of information is hard to read, ScanWriter’s zoom feature enables easy magnification of the image for closer inspection.
- ScanWriter can automatically capture and standardize various data types, such as dates, payers, payees, account numbers, memo fields, routing numbers, signage, and MICR codes. Moreover, the software simplifies data reconciliation by highlighting the corresponding information in the check image on the other side when a particular data cell is clicked.
Furthermore, when the captured data is arranged into an Excel sheet, the software stores images of the original checks to facilitate easy reference.
- ScanWriter integrates with Microsoft Power BI and provides pre-built visualization models such as “All Transactions,” “Flow of Funds,” “Benford’s Law,” and “SAR Analysis” for easy detection and investigation of suspicious activity, even for users without extensive Power BI knowledge.
These automated visualizations, coupled with filter capabilities, are highly useful during asset tracing, aiding fraud investigators in following the money. This tool empowers banks to quickly identify potential fraud without the need for complex Excel formulas or advanced data analysis skills.
The only drawback? ScanWriter can’t monitor real-time transactions — but a few minutes will tell you every detail you need to know about one, 10, or even a thousand checks.
- Spotlight feature: Cleansing algorithms, pattern tracking, and data visualization
- Drawback: No real-time analysis — but still only requires minutes.
Also read – 8 Ways ScanWriter Is Helping Banks Fight Check Fraud
Kofax FraudOne®
Kofax FraudOne® is one of Kofax’s many document verification and automation features in the entire suite. FraudOne® lets you customize verification filters to detect discrepancies most relevant or common in your financial institution. The best selling points? Speed and robust analysis. First, Kofax analyzes checks instantly to verify signatures and recognize check stocks and payees. We’d be happier with Kofax if they flagged fraud indicators that quickly, but that only comes after 1-2 days. To compare, you can see robust reports flagging fraud indicators and check discrepancies within minutes using ScanWriter.
While FraudOne® isn’t prominent on popular review sites, Kofax Capture has a few negative reviews regarding exorbitant pricing and slow support.
Still, Kofax FraudOne’s®’s comprehensive scoring engine deserves merit. Its combined risk score engine weighs certain check factors, like a signature or check number irregularity, to produce a unique risk score. This helps banking execs and fraud strategists like yourself to assess the likelihood of fraud and compare scores across different checks or payers.
- Spotlight feature: Extensive combined risk scoring engine with customization capabilities
- Drawback: Slow speed for fraud analysis
SQN Banking Systems (Sentry Detect™ and Sentry UltraCheck™)
If you’re looking for check scanner software for banks with the most experience in the biz, SQN is worth looking into. The brand has been operating since 1983 as a leader in ban fraud detection services and has evolved to meet new needs.
One unique attribute of SQN is its adaptability to fraud methods — specifically chemical-modification techniques. The software’s UV logo detection uses ultraviolet light to detect tampered checks through the presence of foreign ink.
We find SQN’s real-time fraud analysis quite competitive on our list, as it verifies checks and signatures and detects image fraud within seconds. Additionally, the brand has a dedicated cyber threat intelligence service to prevent data breaches and infrastructure hacks within an organization. What we’d love to see from SQN is a
- Spotlight feature: UV ink and logo detection
- Drawback: Limited reporting features
Comparison Table: ScanWriter vs. Kofax FraudOne® vs. SQN Banking Systems (Sentry Detect™ and Sentry UltraCheck™)
| ScanWriter | Kofax FraudOne® | SQN Banking Systems (Sentry | |
| ROI | Break even after the first case | Not listed | Break even after 6 months |
| Data entry time savings | 90% | Varied; case studies cite millions of business hours in savings | Not listed |
| Speed | Minutes — 1-2 seconds per page with 1-12 check images per page | Instant verification, 1-2 days for fraud analysis | Real-time processing |
| Check data capture | Amount, payee, payer, check number, date, memo notes, signatureReads both front and back side of checks | Amount, payee, payer, check number, date, memo notes, signature | Payer and payee, signature, check number, amount, logos |
| Check image limit | Unlimited | Not listed | Not listed |
| Bank compatibility | All; 20,000 banks and 30,000+ vendor invoicesAny new format can be added into the reader within 48 hours | Not listed | “Range” of large, mid-tier, and community financial institutions |
| Price | $5,495 per license plus an annual $3,234 maintenance fee | Not listed | Not listed |
| Security | Locally saved files, redact function for sensitive info | Content-based rules, protection settings | Cyberthreat intelligence section |
| Features | Payer-payee frequency analysis, unlimited importing, check image analysis, PowerBI visualizations | Combined risk score engine, signature analysis, CAR/LAR mismatch, custom search and reports, | Signature verification, check completion verification, UV logo detection, |
| Deployment | Windows, Desktop, Cloud, SaaS, and web-based | Windows and Mac | Not listed |
| Reports | Customizable to find unique connections | Pre-built dashboards, also customizable | Not listed |
| Visualization | Dynamic visualization tools (Power BI, graphs, tables) to communicate the “big picture” | Pre-built reporting dashboards | Not listed |
| Accuracy | 100% | Not listed | Not listed |
| Languages | 21 | Not listed; assumed English only | Not listed; assumed English only |
Wrapping Up: Best Check Scanner Software for Banks
If you want a quick, reliable method for analyzing checks, all three of the software listed can offer support. Kofax FraudOne has a unique scoring mechanism for effective assessment and training, while SQN’s suite covers UV analysis for chemically modified checks.
But if you want a check scanner for banks that combines supreme peed, visualization tools, accuracy, and customizable reporting features — ScanWriter is the top choice.
Ready to stop check fraud in its tracks? See how ScanWriter automates and speeds up fraud detection and helps your bank save revenue. Book a demo!