The practice of leaving sensitive information on paper cheques is becoming increasingly risky
. A technique known as cheque-washing is often used to commit fraud against businesses and individuals.
Cheque-washing is when cheques are "washed" (cleaned of their original information) and then cashed for different amounts than they were originally written for and by different people than the intended payee. In order to have these charges reversed, the victim will have to file a police report, fill out affidavits for the bank, and prove to the person/merchant that is being paid that it was fraud. This can be a very lengthy process which can seriously undermine the trust of your business partners and can damage your sense of security.
You can eliminate your risk of falling victim to cheque fraud. The easiest way is to simply pay electronically, and leave the security to TelPay! Our proven system will ensure the highest level of security and confidentiality with your electronic payments. TelPay has multiple layers of fraud detection built into both the software and our processes, keeping you and your business safe from fraud.
In the event you are still writing paper cheques, here are a few steps that you can take to protect yourself.
1) Use high-quality cheques which employ security features
2) Split responsibilities so that no one person is solely responsible for issuing cheques
3) Keep cheque stock in a secure location and minimize who has access to it
4) Reduce cheque usage as much as possible and use either electronic payments or pre-authorized debits
5) Use cheque paper which bonds the toner to the paper
These five points will assist the "in house" security of your cheques and cheque processes. While we realize that it may be impossible to completely eliminate cheques, it is possible to reduce your business' reliance on them, and in the process, reduce your fraud risk.