In the US, anyone can sue anyone for anything. If the check comes with a legal agreement, especially notarized, being made whole is easy. Worst case, they take the collateral (house, car) back and get to sell it again. And then there's the fines and jail time if the local prosecutor takes an interest. It's all downside for the aspiring thief.
There are kinds of check fraud people get away with it, but none of them involve legal names and an address to send a summons to.
Being able to sue has no relation to being able to collect any judgments for damages.
Even the US government requires cashier’s checks, not personal checks, for passports.
>Worst case, they take the collateral (house, car) back and get to sell it again.
Worst case is the asset gets trashed or stolen and not recovered, and the seller spends a ton of time and money in court to find out the buyer has no assets to recover from.
Edit: I was wrong about the US passport needing a cashier’s check. It was probably for a travel visa, so a different country requiring it.
There are kinds of check fraud people get away with it, but none of them involve legal names and an address to send a summons to.