TIMES ONLINE: Fraudsters appear to be targeting cheques sent in the post by National Savings & Investments
A Times Money reader has issued a warning to all Premium Bond holders to be on their guard after his attempt to pay in a cheque triggered a security alert.
Tariq Sheikh, 30, a photographer, from Kent, withdrew £2,000 from his Premium Bond account by post in April and deposited the cheque at his local Halifax bank branch.
But when he tried to use his bank card to book an airline ticket two days later, the card was declined. When he rang Halifax he was told that his account had been suspended because of suspected fraud.
In an attempt to deal with the problem, Mr Sheikh went to his branch the next day with proof of ID. He says: “I was told that Halifax would not remove the freeze on my account until it had received confirmation from National Savings & Investments (NS&I) that I was the rightful owner of the £2,000 cheque I had deposited.
“When I questioned why this was necessary, the manager said that Premium Bond cheques were being altered and deposited into other people’s accounts rather than those of the intended recipients. It was possible that cheques were being intercepted before they reached their proper destination. There was a concern that my cheque might be one of these so I had to wait for three hours until NS&I faxed details to Halifax to confirm that I was the rightful owner.” >>> Mark Atherton | Saturday, May 23, 2009
