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Case Review: Banking
Summary of some of the decisions made by the Mediators on some of the complaints received by FMB.
This summary is for information only and should not be used for other purpose. [Next]
STOLEN / FORGED CHEQUE (Case reference no : 6(6)-149)
Mr. A maintained a current account at Bank B. and in September 2003 when he received the current account statement, he discovered that there had been an encashment of cheque no. 123456 amounting to RM6,500/- on 27/09/03. Upon checking his cheque book, he found a few cheque leaves missing and one of them was this cheque.
Mr. A lodged a police report and an official complaint to Bank B. He surrendered his cheque book to the bank. Bank B investigated the complaint and handed to the police a copy of the cheque and the original specimen card. On 16/09/04 Bank B received a letter from the Police Headquarters stating that the forensic result was that the signature was most likely or probably not that of the cheque owner. Despite the said forensic report, the bank refused to pay the said sum to Mr. A.
An inquiry was held to mediate the dispute.
Bank B had verified the signature on the cheque and sighted the identity card of the encasher before the amount was paid out. The encasher of the cheque was a male and he had produced a fake identity card that belonged to a female denoted by the last digit of the Identity Card (an even number).
The teller and the officer ought to have been alerted to the discrepancy on the identity card as the last digit of the identity card number (even number) refers to a female and the person presenting the cheque was a male. The operations officer ought to have been cautious and ought to have exercised his discretion to call Mr. A to verify the transaction.
It is clear from the forensic report that the signature was forged. Therefore, the bank was liable. Mr. A's claim was allowed.
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