Jul 14 - RGP Warns Public About Cheque Scam

The Royal Gibraltar Police wishes to draw attention to a current fraud trend targeting local businesses after a number of businesses have been sent cheques for payment of services to be provided at a later date, which are of a greater value than the services being requested.

A spokesman for the RGP said: "The fraudster will then contact the victim advising that they have realised that they made out the cheque for a greater amount than was required. They will then ask the victim to send the difference by way of bank transfer to a bank account. The victim then complies with the request in the belief that fraudster is a genuine customer and they will still have the value of their services covered. However, the cheques are subsequently found to be fraudulent or the originating account has no funds to cover the cheque resulting in the victims being defrauded by however much money they have ‘refunded’ to the fraudsters.

"So far the accounts from where the cheques originate are from outside of Gibraltar. The accounts the funds are asked to be paid into are also outside of Gibraltar and all contact details for the fraudsters are outside of Gibraltar.

"It is often in these cases that the accounts used have been opened with false documents and that the contact details are untraceable. This greatly hampers the ability of law enforcement agencies to track down suspects and bring culprits to justice. It also hampers the retrieval of funds."

Police advice is to question all transactions and if the request is strange, out of the ordinary or raises any suspicions confirm everything before making a transfer. Furthermore, in this particular type of fraud check with your bank that the funds have actually cleared before accepting any request for a bank transfer.

The spokesman added: "Whilst it is understood that people may have their reasons for not reporting crime, it is only by reporting these matters that trends can be identified by Police and warning and education be given to others to prevent the spread of fraud. The RGP therefore urges anyone who has been targeted by this type of fraud, irrespective of whether they wish to pursue the matter, to contact the RGP’s Economic Crime Unit at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.."

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