[woodruffw]

My understanding is that this is no longer true: only a relatively small set of trusted entities can perform a direct debit (check or check substitute not present) from an account number without having to perform additional verification. The ones that I’ve personally seen are utilities and colleges; I tried to do the same with a friend once (so he could pay me back for something without having any fees) and our banks refused the transaction because our account names did not match.