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Cheque and bank draft frauds top 5000 this year
By Dilip Rangajith
Fraudulent cashing of bank drafts and cheques topped 5000 cases this year, according to the Colombo Fraud Bureau at Wellawatte.

Fraud Bureau Chief Inspector N.B. Eramudugolla said it is difficult to trace bank draft frauds and in most cases the offenders cannot be brought to book.

“They don’t forge the bank drafts but they manage to get them from letters received at the Central Mail Exchange and prepare the essential documents illegally, including forged identity cards, to cash the genuine bank drafts,” he said.

S.I. Wijedasa said, “In some cases the bank drafts are handed over to some party other than the person entitled to receive it and thereby they have been cashed with the help of forged documents.”

“Bank draft frauds can be avoided by using either a courier service or by transferring money from an NRFC account to a local account,” he said.
“Most frauds with cheques are done by altering the words and figures on them, which cannot be seen with the naked eye.” CI Eramudugolla said.

Police said some school leavers employed in a reputed company in Colombo were arrested recently with forged cheques worth Rs. 500,000 and some employees in a reputed firm in Colombo were also arrested 2 years ago for forging cheques worth Rs. 2,900,000.

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