International cheque scam foiled

An international scam involving fake cheques and postal orders that were destined for London has been foiled by the government’s Serious Organised Crime Agency.

Investigations have been on-going for a month in Nigeria, and as a result £8 million worth of fake cheques and postal orders have been seized. The scam has been described as sophisticated by officials, and a number of people in Britain have been arrested for their involvement in the fraud.

According to reports around sixty arrests have been made in countries around the world in connection with the scam, including arrests in Spain, Canada, Nigeria, the United States, and the Netherlands. During the operation fake passports were also discovered in addition to the fake cheques and postal orders. Around three thousand forged cheques that were due to go to an address in London were seized, along with an additional fifteen hundred forged cheques going to other London addresses.

UK residents have to pay out billions of pounds each year because of fake cheques that are used to purchase goods or get cash, and then bounce. Some of the cheques that were seized as part of the operation were already filled in for amounts ranging between three and seven thousand pounds. One of the scams in which such fake cheques are used in where consumes are told that they have won money or inherited money, and are asked to send in a fee to make their claim. They then receive a fake cheque, which then bounces once the bank discovers that it is fake.

Another scam involves consumers being told that the cheques are work processing cheques, and they send in the amount of money to cover the cheque and then bank the cheque, which later bounces.

Tom Smith
11th November 2007

Tags: scam, fraud, cheques, international, order, money, postal

Many banks and card companies to be sympathetic over postal delays

Over recent weeks the UK has been hit by a number of postal strikes, which has disrupted many services.

A number of banks and credit card companies in the UK have stated that they intend to be sympathetic with customers who may have suffered as a result of the postal strikes in terms of payments coming in late because of the postal delays. Although banks have suffered a fair amount of bad press lately some of the leading banks and credit card companies stated that they would take the postal strikes into account when it came to customers’ accounts.

The postal strikes were set to go on for two week in total, and this means that those paying by cheque will find that their payments may be delayed, which could result in their bank accounts exceeding the overdraft limit or their credit cards going over the credit limit due to late payment. Banks and credit card companies are urging consumers that experience this problem to contact them, stating that they will ensure that they are sympathetic when it comes to the removal of charges that were applied as a result of late payment because of postal delays.

One Barclaycard official stated: ‘We will take an understanding approach and if anyone does incur a fee they should come and talk to us.’ Lloyds TSB, Halifax, and HSBC have also stated that they will treat each case sympathetically, and that customers that have experienced postal problems that have affected their accounts should contact them as early as possible. Other banks have added that customers may want to look at alternative methods of payment whilst the postal strikes are underway.

Consumers are warned that trying to dupe the banks into thinking that payment is late because of postal strikes will not be easy. One bank spokesperson stated: ‘We will treat every customer individually and do our best to be sympathetic. But if someone is always in the red, the postal strike will probably be just another excuse and will be seen accordingly.’

Tom Smith
17th September 2007

Tags: payments, interest, postal, delays, cards, red, strike, charges, credit