A broker from Merrill Lynch allegedly stole more than $320,000 from an elderly woman by forging her signature.

Peter Lau, 37, who was the victim's broker, stole some 28 checks from the victim and forged her signature before depositing them for his own use from June 2004 to December 2005, Brown said in a prepared statement.

Watch your bank account balances! Online access has to be one of the best inventions of the 1990s. I've been checking my Roth IRA account this week, noticing that my first automatic deposit for the year hasn't gone through. I generally expect a little bit of a delay at the beginning of the year, but while the fund prices were updating every day, my checking account wasn't hit with a withdrawal.

So I called, and it's a good thing I did; their system skipped over my January 1 deposit, and they will fix the error retroactively. In this case, it was merely a small accident, not purposeful bilking, but you never know. I wouldn't have known for another month if I only read paper statements.

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