The following appeared in the Natal Mercury the other day:

“Never send cheques in the mail to pay your accounts, as these can fall into the wrong hands and be “washed” by criminal syndicates who alter the amount and payee before presenting the cheque to the bank for payment”.

I read this with disbelief, but a few days later my wife asked a teller at FNB about it and she confirmed what was in the paper. Well goodness me - washing and altering cheques successfully, notwithstanding all the clever anti-fraud measures taken by the printers and the banks.

But really, can it be true? I would not wish to seem a subscriber to conspiracy theories, but if you were a bank, and very keen to reduce your overheads by encouraging on-line banking etc, might not putting a few stories about so as to make people nervous about sending cheques in the post be a good place to start?

Is the article for real?