at different banks, writes a check on day one to themselves from Bank A to Bank B (this check is referred to as the kite), so funds become available that day at Bank B sufficient for all checks due to clear. On the following business day, the kiter writes a check on their Bank B account to themselves and deposits it into his account at Bank A to provide artificial funds allowing the check they wrote a day earlier to clear. This cycle repeats until the offender is caught, or until the offender deposits genuine funds, thereby eliminating the need to kite, and usually going unnoticed. Complex versions of this scheme have occurred involving two separate people, each with an account at a different bank, constantly writing checks to one another, or a group of individuals writing checks circularly, thereby making detection more difficult. Some kiting rings involve offenders posing as large businesses, thereby masking their activity as normal business transactions and making banks inclined to waive the limit of funds made available. Retail-based kiting Retail-based kiting involves the use of a party other than a bank to unknowingly provide temporary funds to an account holder lacking funds needed for check to clear. In these cases, the kiter writes check(s) to one or more places of retail (usually supermarket(s)) that offer cash back in addition to the amount of a purchase as a courtesy to their patrons. Following the transaction, the kiter deposits the cash received back into his/her bank on the same day in order to provide sufficient funds for other check to clear, while the check written that day will clear one or more business days later. This action is repeated as necessary until legitimate funds can be deposited into the account. For example, suppose an individual has $10 in a bank account and no cash, but wishes to purchase an item costing $100. Here is how the fraud could be accomplished: First, the individual writes Check #1 (a bad check) for $100, and uses it to purchase the item. The check will clear (i.e., the check amount will be deducted from his account) at the end of the next business day (say Check #1 is written on day T−1). The individual is now technically insolvent, as they owe $100, but only have $10 in the bank. This fact is not known, however, as the check has not