Did 90’s Disney Movie “Blank Check” Glamorize Check Fraud?
- Revisiting a film glamorizing check fraud
- An adolescent leaves a bank with $1 million in cash
- Fortunately, is virtually impossible for this scenario to occur today
When thinking of a film glamorizing check fraud, most instantly think of the hit film Catch Me If You Can, directed by Steven Spielberg and featuring A-listers Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks.
But, what if we told you that there was a Disney Film that glamorized check fraud?
Indeed, Disney's 1994 movie Blank Check follows the story of a young boy, Preston, who comes into possession of a blank check and proceeds to exploit it for his own financial gain (special thanks to our friends at Finovifi for reminding us of the film!). While the movie was very likely designed to play out a fantastical wish-fulfillment for children -- a key ingredient in the Disney live-action formula at the time -- hindsight reveals that it glamorizes the serious crime of check fraud in a concerning way.
Rotten Tomatoes provides a succinct synopsis of the film:
After a crook named Carl Quigley (Miguel Ferrer) nearly kills 11-year-old Preston Waters (Brian Bonsall) by running over the boy's bike, he mistakenly gives the boy a blank check. The resourceful Preston makes out the check for a million dollars and cashes it. As Preston enjoys spending his windfall, Carl realizes his mistake and goes looking for the boy, while the FBI searches for Preston's alias, the mysterious Macintosh. Preston soon learns the real value of money.
The Financial Crimes Committed
While the film is meant to be a comedy, there was several serious crimes committed -- we will stick to the financial crimes for this blog.
Money Laundering: The first financial crime within the movie is the $1M in funds. Carl Quigley (the antagonist of the movie) is providing a check to "Juice" -- who appears to be a money mule -- to acquire the presumed ill gotten funds. What they plan to do with the funds is unknown, but we can assume that these funds are being moved around.
Check Fraud: After Carl Quigley accidentally runs over Preston's bike, he hands a signed "blank check" to Preston and informs him to add an amount for the worth of the bike. He then writes the check for $1 million and goes into a bank branch to cash the check. This can be classified as forgery, as there is no reason for a child's bike to be worth that amount of money.
Insider Fraud: The bank employee, Michael Learner, is in on the scheme. When he receives the check from Preston, he does not check for identification or perform any type of due diligence.
Why This Check Fraud Attempt Would be Unsuccessful Today
We can be almost 100% positive that this check would never be cashed in real life. Here are the major reasons:
- Virtually no bank in the US holds that amount of cash on hand. Typically, when an individual is looking to withdraw that amount, it will take anywhere from a few days to weeks.
- Rest assured that no bank employee -- even ones that are part of the scheme -- would ever hand a child that amount of money.
- A transaction of this size would typically be flagged by transaction analytics systems.
- Banks using image forensics would see the difference in writing styles, along with any other signs, and flag the item.
Bottom line: Blank Check -- the "family film" that blatantly depicts check fraud -- has not aged well at all.