Alert customers on cheques: Reserve Bank of India

Mumbai: To clamp down on cheque-related fraud cases, the Reserve Bank on Wednesday asked banks to alert account holders by a phone call and contact the base branch in case of non-home cheques before clearing high value payments. The RBI also asked banks to send an SMS alert to payer/drawer when cheques are received for clearing and examine cheques under UV lamp for clearance beyond Rs2 lakh. The central bank further said multi-level checking should be done before clearing cheques above Rs 5 lakh.

“Banks may consider the following preventive measures for dealing with suspicious or large value cheques: Alerting the customer by a phone call and getting the confirmation from the payer/drawer and contacting base branch in case of non-home cheques,” RBI said in a communication to banks.

RBI said directions have been issued in the wake of a rise in the number of cheque-related fraud cases. It said cases have been reported where even though original cheques were in the custody of account holders, cheques in the same series were presented and encashed by fraudsters.The RBI said banks may resort to given directions selectively, if not feasible to be implemented systematically.