CHEQUE FRAUDS.

Auckland Star, Volume LII, Issue 57, 8 March 1921, Page 4

CHEQUE FRAUDS.

Thp carelessness tff people i<n accepting cheques from strangers i. s probably as old as banking. Perifxlica:lly our own judges have coanm-ented upon it. Yet, in tl>is res-pert experience does not teach. We do not recall any -tinw in which cheque frauds were so numerous or s> easily committed as the present. During the, past fp\\- wee-ks some astonishing i-ases have come before the local courts. It would appear fwim some of these titai obtaining money by valueless checpies is one of the easiest forms of fraud. All you lihVi> to do is to bejr, borrow, find, or steal cheque forms, ami ii.-c somebody else's pen and ink. A cheaper way of making a temporary living ha.s not been devised. Two cases tlmt came before Mr. Justice Stringer on Saturday «how how entirely some business people are. In one there were twelve offence-a by a man wlio went about the country with a stolen cheque-book, and found no difficulty in getting people to accept. liis signature. The. other was qu'te extraordinary, tUttt of an <pU man, "almost an imbecile," who found a lot of old cheque forms, anj through them was able to impose on a. number »f tradesmen. As his 'Honor said, the very appearance of the man and of the cheques presented shoukl have aroused silKpieJon in the most guileless mind. One wonders if there is any remedy. Certainly people who are so rarele&j as to piieourafTe crime in this way deserve no coiwderation, and it would 'be poetic justice if ihey were called upon.to pay part of the cost of punishing the criminal. AYe do rtot see that the barrk-s can do anytii'ing to protect the public from fraud (if this kind. The obvious remedy lies in greater care by the bueine-ss world, and we write tiliia mainly with the iilc-.i of drawing -pimple's attention' to '.vhat Mr. .lustioe .Stringer rightly tonne the "criminal rareleesness" of accepting cheques from s-tran'jrers without inquiry. I'eriuips prosperity has something to do with it, anU when there is less money abimt people will be more careful iv their dealings.