Fraudsters deterred from targeting credit cards due to the Chip and Pin revolution may instead return their attention to the traditional cheque, according to the TALL Group.
The TALL Group accepts that personal use of cheques, at a peak 15 years ago, is falling year on year. However, many businesses still stick by the cheque as their favoured payment method with figures from the Association of Payment Clearing Services (APACS) showing that six million cheques went through the banks’ clearing systems each working day during 2004.
APACS indicates that forged cheques are on the increase and the potential for money laundering and other criminal activity surrounding cheque payments is making it a bigger challenge for the financial and IT sectors.
“Banks tightly regulate the specification of all cheques printed for clearing through the UK banking system through CPAS – the Cheque Printer Accreditation Scheme. They go as far as specifying the office printers that are approved for cheque infilling and for those adding the Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR) code line,” explains Martin Ruda, managing director of The TALL Group, one of the UK’s leading security print solutions specialists.
“However, APACS remain silent on the extent of the audit trail and reconciliation required for cheques issued and generally makes no formal demands on corporate clients to record details of cheques received and deposited.
“As the Proceeds of Crime Act requires companies to know the source of funds received, it is incumbent on business to find slick, cost-effective and watertight methods of retaining and retrieving such information.”