Monday, March 30, 2009

Victim of Cheque Fraud

I sent out a cheque to pay my credit card early this month via Pos Malaysia using the credit self addressed envelope provided by the credit card company. Last week, when I called the credit card company to check whether they have received my cheque, they confirmed that it did not arrive. Immediately, I called the bank to check the status of my cheque. The bank branch that issued my cheque book only knew that the cheque payment was rejected. I was told by the officer after she checked with the security department that someone else tried to cash out my cheque. Somehow this syndicate managed to intercept my cheque in the post and modified all the information in my cheque, to make it payable to another person’s name. I took a scanned copy of the cheque and found that all the handwriting on it was not mine. The payee name has been changed from the credit card company to an individual name. They used the same payment amount as in my credit card bill. It seems that this syndicate is very active and they have managed to get away with some of the victim’s money. Last Thursday someone wrote to a local newspaper about his cheque that was sent out to pay his insurance premium was fraudulently cashed out by someone else. In order to avoid these problem, make sure you send your cheque using a normal envelope or bank it in directly in to the payee account. It took me half a day get this problem sorted out; go the bank, make police report, and make new payment to my credit card company.

14 comments:

fufu said...

it's time to get all those trouble done online =) i pay the credit card via internet since 6yrs ago (when i was in japan)

glad malaysia has e-banking

Josephine said...

wah! so dangerous!
Must be careful...
Never never mail cheque by post in the future...

Calvin Soo KJ said...

frauds are everywhere nowadays. even though i am working in a bank, i do not issue cheques unless i pay directly at the office instead of mailing them. go online lar....or bank in to cash deposit machines :P

Nonickname said...

I am glad that you were able to solve the problem. I live in the USA and a few years ago someone made and tried to cash fake cheques using my account number. I took me about a year to get the problem solved.

Nonickname said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
mommy to chumsy said...

omigod..that's scary. hmm..wonder if those people involve work in the post office? how did they remove your handwriting?

Chris said...

Luckily i dun have chcek book..

Pete said...

fufu : Online also risky, everytime got new phising virus.

Josephine : Bank in directly safer

Calvin : I will bank in directly next time

Moonaroo : woo, a year to solve it. These syndicates really cause us a lot of trouble

Mommy : I heard they have special chemicals to remove the ink.

Chris : No cheque book, save all the trouble lorrr, LOL

Malaysian Joe said...

Thats why... never trust POS Malaysia. I would rather pay more to do online payment or take the trouble over the weekend to go to the bank and bank in cheque/cash... LOL.

Pete said...

Joe : Ya, I better do that next time. Cheers!

Irvin @ Biawak said...

I suggest bank in cheque or cash direct is safer as i also did like that.

Pete said...

Irvin : Ya do agree with you. Thks for dropping by.

william said...

I had same case exactly like yours. Cheque was forged to 'Siti Fatimah binti Mat Jusoh'. Ammount changed from RM93.40 to RM1930.40. Issuing Bank cant trace back the original cheque. I starting to doubt Bank Negera Cheque Clearing System & Pos Malaysia.

I believe this Siti Fatimah does not exist and most probably the sydicate made a fake ID to open this a/c.

Pete said...

William : Ya, agree, very likely the person do not exist, just like the name they altered in my cheque.
It must have been fished out from the delivery system somewhere.