Fraud in CTS Cheque clearing

As we know that under CTS system paying bank only receive an images of cheques as shown ,Due to this it is very difficult to identify the genuiness of the cheque  by paying bank and fraudulent person taking advantage of that.There many such cases in recent news where customer account is debited by cheque though customer have not issued any such cheque.

When such case came into notice a survey was conducted and It is reported by various banks and their branches that under CTS  fraud person opening an account in one branch ,depositing a fake cheque at distant branch and withdrawing money through ATM or from a third branch.

After  an examination by various banks it is observed that the name of payee and amount are changed with bold ink to hide original writing and the signature of the payee is either scanned or kept as it is.In some cases , the fake cheques are presented at non-home branch to credit the account through clearing or transferring into account. Further original cheque lies with customer itself. Mainly fraud person targeting LIC of India, big corporate customer or customer having  high value limit from bank.

One can take  following preventive measures while paying/collecting high value cheques at non home branch 

1.     If there is a doubt then must contact home branch or customer on telephone

2.     Bank can ask for physical instrument and check it properly before paying.

3.     Person doing CTS clearing must have knowledge of CTS cheque security parameter because then only he can catch forged cheque

How a person commit fraud in CTS

1.     Such person first try to get information of customer such as their account number, their cheque book series number , account transaction etc.
2.     He note which cheque number is used for last transaction
3.     Then he uses some image editing software like photoshop etc and create fauged cheque of his own.
4.     A fraud person uses such cheque either out of city or out of state to get payment.