SECRET CHEQUE SIGNS.

Franklin Times, Volume 9, Issue 621, 5 April 1921, Page 5

SECRET CHEQUE SIGNS.

So clever is the modern forger that the man who relies on a signa- # tkre which is hard to copy is liable at any moment to find himself victimised and his account depleted. In order to prevent the successful uttering of a forged cheque several men have hit upon devices which even the smartest criminal could hardly detect. For instance, there is an American millionaire who makes a tiny blot on some part of the cheque as ft sign to the bank cashier that it is genuine. Not one forger .in a thousand would attribute a blot to anything but carelessness, and quite a number of would-be swindlers have found themselves pulled up sharply on presnting . an unbiotted cheque over the counter.

Another man has hit upon the idea of apparently making a mistake in the date in the right hand top corner of the cheque, which mistake is rectified by the crossing out or the wrong numeral and the substitution of the correct one. The cheque forger would hardly regard such an apparent blunder as the result of de- ; liberate intention. A. Frenchman with whom this subject was discussed stated that his own method is an almost infallible one. Whenever he writes a cheque, be takes the precaution of tearing it out of his cheque book in such a matter that a tiny shred of the counterfoil remains attached to the draft. This is an intimation to the bank that the cheque is genuine. ' Perhaps, however, the most extraordinary device is that adopted bya wary Hebrew. He makes a point of carefully perfuming every , cheque bearing his signature with a certain scent which is very difficult to obtain.