Kiting

“Kiting,” in its most popular form, is basically when we knowingly write bad checks. Either it’s a fraudulent account altogether, or the account itself is kosher but we know there’s not enough cash in there to cover the check we’re writing. If we fudge the amount on a check we’ve been given...like, for example, changing it from $10.00 to $100.00, that’s also considered kiting. Regardless of how we go about it, it’s kiting, and it’s not only shady (and kind of a pain for the legitimate check receiver or writer to deal with)...it’s illegal.

But kiting isn’t just for shady individuals with checkbooks. If a company takes too long to complete buy-and-sell transactions (i.e., orders investors have made regarding its stock), then it can be accused of kiting as well.

Essentially, the gist of kiting is this: if a person or business knowingly uses fraudulent financial instruments (checks, share delivery, whatev) to advance their own financial position, then they’re kiting.