The financial industry is launching an awareness campaign to combat the increasing problem of cheques being altered and intercepted.

Cheque fraud cost £44m last year. Of this, £11.25m related to counterfeit and altered cheques, which represented a 48% increase on the previous year.

Several initiatives were outlined this week at a joint Association of British Insurers, Association for Payment Clearing Services, British Bankers Association and City of London police briefing held this week.

These include:

  • investment in improved cheque security
  • the publication of best practice guidelines
  • educating organisations on what they can do to reduce the risk
  • setting out the action that needs to be taken as soon as a cheque fraud is discovered.


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