Bogus banker’s cheques alert

A new bank scam has been revealed in which Manager’s Cheques – routinely honoured by merchants and the commercial banking system – appear to be a tool of crooks passing fake paper targeting Republic Bank, the bank said today.

In a brief statement, the bank issued an alert for “fraudulent Manager’s Cheques drawn on Republic Bank which are in circulation”.

The bank said: “It has been drawn to the attention of the Bank that persons have sought to negotiate a number of fraudulent cheques payable to merchants in particular.

“These instances have been reported to the Financial Crimes Investigation Unit (Fraud Squad) of the Royal Barbados Police Force and officers are actively conducting investigations.”

The bank has asked merchants to be vigilant when the manager’s cheques purported to be drawn on Republic Bank are presented.

“Ensure that you conduct your own due diligence prior to negotiating these cheques, in an effort to avoid a loss to your businesses,” the bank said.

The latest comes amid a fresh outbreak of financial crime targeting banks.

In July, police released images of two unidentified men believed to be involved in the skimming of data from automatic banking machine cards on the West Coast.

Last month, the Central Bank of Barbados noted a fresh attempt to pass counterfeits of the one hundred dollar bill, the grey so-called ‘Grantley Adams’.