a cheque from a stranger ?

Stompa

MoneySaverLog wrote: »

I wondered about doing that myself. May be change the last letter of the postcode but was wondering if my mail would end up somewhere else. Besides I'm not sure whether it's entirely legal to do so.

I'm not sure about the legaility, but it makes it harder for Royal Mail:

http://www.royalmail.com/delivery/mail-advice/postcodes-addresses-explained

Using the postcode means that the majority of mail can go through our automated sort machines allowing it to be sorted quickly and accurately.

If mail does not have a postcode or has an incorrect postcode it will have to be sorted manually which takes longer and can mean that mail is sent to the wrong destination (although most mail is still delivered correctly and on time).

anamenottaken

Gromitt wrote: »

Each person who has my address has it spelt differently, so if I get spam, I know exactly where it come from.

How many people do you know?

You are also relying on people writing your address as given to them. I certainly sometimes check my friends' addresses using the Royal Mail online postcode checker - usually checking for sending Christmas cards - so I'd certainly not necessarily use a "doctored" address.

agrinnall

meer53 wrote: »

How would someone with a stolen cheque book have your sons name and address unless they knew him ?

Phone book? Electoral roll? It's not exactly hard, is it?

jonesMUFCforever

I would still like the OP to post back on here and confirm whether the scammer has been in touch yet about a refund!

opinions4u

With a limited number of stolen cheques this sort of fraud is not going to pick random targets.

There's a reason this individual has been sent this cheque. That could be because he's identified as a soft target or it could be that he's knowingly involved in passing a dodgy cheque through his account.

CKhalvashi

We had this with a Swiss cheque a few years back company-wise.

We were expecting money from about 3 companies in CH, banked the cheque whilst not knowing exactly where it had come from, and had about £1.6m in company funds frozen for 6 days whilst a police investigation was taking place.

A word of advice for anyone else; it’s just not worth doing, after the problems we had proving that we HAD actually done work for 3 Swiss companies. Even more difficult if it’s unsolicited.

CK

meer53

opinions4u wrote: »

With a limited number of stolen cheques this sort of fraud is not going to pick random targets.

There's a reason this individual has been sent this cheque. That could be because he's identified as a soft target or it could be that he's knowingly involved in passing a dodgy cheque through his account.

Beat me to it !

Can't see any fraudster sending 25 cheques (if a full book) to 25 random addresses ! To them it would be like giving away cash.

Then the fraudster would have to get in touch with each individual to get access to their cash, how successful do you think this would be ?

rb10

Gromitt wrote: »

I know someone at work who changes the last two letters of their post code (for example, they use BB for barclays bank). No post gone missing yet.

I always put the correct full post code but change the road address slightly.

This is not going to help when they come to apply for credit.

Two reasons - firstly, banks may not be able to find a match for your credit record, making it more difficult to obtain credit (as it appears that you have no previous accounts).

Secondly, the use of slightly different addresses may raise fraud flags at banks/CIFAS.

Lansdowne

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

I would still like the OP to post back on here and confirm whether the scammer has been in touch yet about a refund!

Jones you are not paying attention. The OP said the cheque was received yesterday. It has got to be some days before they start scamming to be refunded.

jane130

No contact yet - if we are contacted we will pass the contact information to the company involved the bank and the police.


all i can think of is that DS is currently looking for an apprenticeship and has sent approx 100 CV's out via post and email which means there are a hell of a lot of individual's out there with his contact details

He also responded to an add on Gumtree when looking for work which started to look a bit like a scam when he got a reply so he didn't follow it up .