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Check That Check

Check fraudsters are on a tear. Attempted fraud has more than doubled since 2003, to $12.2 billion last year, according to a study by the American Bankers Assn. Actual losses were up 43%, to $969 million. Technology is an enabler, says Jane Yao, who oversaw the survey. "Without the Internet, some of these crimes would not be possible." While forged signatures and dumpster diving for unshredded checks are still common, Yao says, criminal rings have taken up "phishing"—sending e-mails disguised as bank correspondence to get customers' account information. And advances in laser printing are spurring a rise in counterfeit checks, which now account for 28% of losses. Meanwhile, bankers are citing a new scheme in which victims are sent a large check and asked to wire some of it back as cash to the scamster as a "fee." When the check—a supposed lottery winning, say, or advance commission for home-office work—bounces, the consumer is liable for any amount he has drawn against it. The ABA and the U.S. Postal Service have launched FakeChecks.org to educate people about such ploys.

—By Mara Der Hovanesian

Low-Carbon Cars

French carmaker PSA Peugeot Citroën builds the cleanest cars sold in Europe, according to a recent study by an ecology group, the European Federation for Transport & Environment. Luxury-car kingpins Daimler (DAI) and BMW were at the bottom of the list, which ranked 14 automakers according to the carbon dioxide their models emitted. General Motors (GM) came in at No. 6; Ford (F) at No. 7. The European Union wants carmakers to reduce their emissions to a 120g/km on average by 2015, a level the German carmakers insist is unrealistic.

—By Gail Edmondson

These Books Write Themselves

Chances are you've never heard of him, but Philip M. Parker is the author or editor of 300,000 books. More precisely, software he created wrote the books—almost every word—automatically. Parker, 47, a marketing professor at INSEAD, a business school based in France, recently won a U.S. patent for his invention, so anyone else aspiring to write 300-page nonfiction books in under 30 minutes has to find another way.

Parker sells his volumes in digital or print-on-demand form via outlets such as Amazon.com (AMZN) and Ingram Book Group. "He may be the most prolific author in history," says Amazon's Kurt Beidler. The books tend to be ultraspecific. Take The 2007-2012 Outlook for Rollerball Pens in Greater China ($495) or the $14.95 volume of crossword puzzles in Zarma, spoken in southwest Niger. "It's the ultimate expression of the long tail," says Parker, referring to the idea that in the Internet era, even items with limited appeal can find a market. Parker, whose software searches databases for the content of his formulaic genres, won't say how many books he has sold. But he vows this is just the start.These days, his computer is creating video games.

—By Steve Hamm