Could secure printing have helped to reduce the scale of the recent £120k cashing scam?

Could secure printing have helped to reduce the scale of the recent £120k cashing scam?

We’ve written previously about the issues surrounding cheques and the relative ease with which certain criminals are able to fraudulently obtain huge sums of money. The Liverpool Echo recently published an article about a group who had collectively netted over £120,000 and are now facing time in prison.

The specific techniques used to gain access to the money included cashing false cheques at pawnbrokers and dedicated cheque cashing agencies, along with allowing for fraudulent cheques to be paid into their own personal bank accounts.

There are 26 defendants in the case, each with varying levels of involvement. It is clear that some of these 26 will be sent to prison, but it is as of yet unknown as to how many, and for how long.

As we’ve highlighted previously, the problem with this type of crime is not necessarily with the physical cheques, but with the human interaction surrounding them. The employees of businesses where cheques are cashed authorise them despite the signatures bearing no resemblance to the correct account holder. The development and use of stealth printing techniques within secure printing could help in the prevention of crime, however this must be coupled with stricter procedures for checking the authentication before money is released.