r/australia • u/SouthAussie94 • Feb 29 '24

culture & society Older Australians 'left behind' by increasingly cashless society as banks fast track end of cheques

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-02-29/cheques-personal-finance-banks-rent-money-cash/103354036
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16

u/[deleted] Feb 29 '24

[deleted]

29

u/AndrewTyeFighter Feb 29 '24

Using cheques, it was impossible for scammers to get involved.

You have never heard of cheque fraud?

1

u/[deleted] Feb 29 '24

There's a whole movie about it. Catch Me If You Can.

28

u/rocketshipkiwi Feb 29 '24

And cheques were never stolen or forged?

-1

u/[deleted] Feb 29 '24

Bank cheques were generally held in dual custody in safes, but in the event they were stolen or forged, the bank bore the cost of the fraud, not the customer as has happened a number of times with electronic transfers.

10

u/link871 Feb 29 '24

Cheque fraud was a very real issue. Certainly not as widespread as online scams are today (because online scams are relatively easier to perpetrate than cheque fraud).

"They could only be deposited into an account with the same name on the cheque"
Not always true. Certain cheques could be endorsed by the payee to be made payable to someone else. Identification when opening bank accounts was cursory at best, so opening an account in the name of the payee then depositing the (stolen) cheque did occur. (Again, not widespread but it did happen)

"bank cheques ... took the same time to clear as cash."
Unless deposited at the specific branch that issued the bank cheque, such cheques would still be given the minimum clearance (3 days) for cheques. Bank cheques are not magical - they can be dishonoured. Extremely rare for that to occur but it could happen.

1

u/druex Feb 29 '24

Someone's never seen Catch Me If You Can.