That Sacres Me Posted By: Jeff Stein <onthedash@bellsouth.net> Date: 2/11/05 20:06 GMT

In Response To: Like this, Jeff? (Chicagoland Chuck Maddox)

. . . and can you do the same thing with checks that you receive??

• scan
• remove dollar amount
• increase dollar amount by factor of ten
• reprint
• deposit

  Well, yeah... I could... I wouldn't, but... you mean you Windows guys can't do this? Or do this as well?

This shows us just what can be done in this digital era. Let's hope the folks at the bank hold them up to the light!

Actually, I've been able to do this sort of thing at low (under 100dpi) resolution for quite a while (since 1985), at higher resolutions (300-600dpi) since 1988, In color since 1990-1, and even higher resolution since about 1996.

It does take a little knowledge, skill and talent, fortunately I have a little of both (modesty too, don't forget modesty!) oh, and the right tools.

And in all seriousness, it's really easy to do with electrons and pixels, (something to keep in mind when bidding on watches), but it's not so easy in the real world. A laser or inkjet printer can't duplicate the pressure of a pen on a check, a hologram, the security thread in a dollar bill, the embossing on a stock certificate, or the little magnetic MICR numbers at the bottom of a check. So there are limits to the technology I have, but I'm sure the criminal element out there has access to much of that technology.

Actually I took a couple of shortcuts on these graphics... I removed the original scan's background and replaced it with a single color approximating the color of the document you scanned. If I had wanted to, I could have left the background largely untouched and just touched up the most obvious blemishes and it would print out on a color printer looking like a vintage document if you choose the right paper. As is, the document is "too blemish free and consistant" to be a vintage document, so when it prints out it'll look like a freshly printed but on aged paper copy. Which is fine, I'm not keen on people downloading these and trying to pass them off as genuine originals. Keeping the old background is much more time intensive in cleaning it up but not leaving patterns in the pixels.

thanks,

Jeff

Not a problem... I had a dog in this race... I own a Seafarer, so I had a vested interest in the files.