HOW BANK CASHIERS ARE SWINDLED.

King Country Chronicle, Volume V, Issue 354, 22 April 1911, Page 2

HOW BANK CASHIERS ARE SWINDLED.

The affable gentleman who hands you out notes or gold in exchange for your cheque is the mark of sharks and swindlers of all descriptions. The possibilities offered by a successful fraud upon him are great, and the risks on the whole are less than have to be faced in many other fields of crime. Dodges innumerable have been worked for his especial benefit, but the very dangers of his calling make him wary, and he is not easily "had." That favourite device of petty thieves, for example, called "ringing the changes," which so often deceives the shopman or the publican, seldom succeeds with him. He has a disconcerting habit of completing each payment as originally asked for, blandly ignoring any changes in detail until the end. Thus he makes each transaction complete in itself, and it is not easy to confuse him. Bad money is seldom presented at a bank, unless undesignedly, by those who have been themselves deceived. It is extraordinary how quickly a cashier can detect one bad coin among a number of good ones. The slightest difference in appearance, size, or even weight is often sufficient to catch his attention. It is not because he has had so much experience of bad coins, but because he is so accustomed to good ones, that he is quick in noticing the difference. Gold counterfeits are usually wrong in the weight, while silver ones have often a suspiciously greasy appearance and ring badly. A SWINDLE WORKED BY A LADY. Nevertheless, a simple swindle of a petty nature was successfully worked for .some time at n certain bank where a number of lellesn were employed. All of them in turn at intervals found themselves "planted with ;< bright, new farthing for a half sovereiL'n. Eventually the mystery was clears! up. The fraud had been worked by the handsome ladycashier i ■[ a big business tirm. How far its success wn-' due 1 to the dazzling glances from her pretty eyes, and how far to the fact that she usually handed over the money at the busiest time of the day, and when possible, in f. bad light, it is hard to say. fashiers have sometimes to face the risk of robbery by fellow-oili-eials, though these cases ai'e extremely rare. A few years ago, however, a hank clerk left suddenly for America, under circumstances which his friends endeavoured io

hush up as much as possible. He had been detected in the act of ashing, with a string and a bent pin, a bundle of notes out of a cashier's box daring the latter's absence. A long term of imprisonment would have been a fitting reward for this traitorous act, but the lank where it occurred paid small salaries, and thought it advisable to let the offender go rather than face publicity. It is to be feared that, tanks which tempt their employes to crime in this manner are not exposed as often as might be wished. ANOTHER TRICK. Another case was where a cashier continually found himself short after balancing the day's transactions. Usually the deficiency was for small sums. It puzzled him for a long time ; but eventually the mystery was solved by an accident. A clerk in the office was in the habit of handing him a book to initial each day. The book was laid on the desk, where usually there were a number of loose coins lying about, was duly marked, and lifted up again. One day the clerk, in taking back the book,, was not so cautious us usual, and the cashier caught the glint of a coin adhering to the back of it. Struck by this defiance of the laws of gravity, he grasped the book, and found on it a small piece of wax, to which the coin was adhering, and now that clerk is numbered amongst the unemployed. Another cashier recently lost £IOO in a simple way. Paying out money rapidly to a large number of customers on a busy day, he found, when the crowd had melted away, a man whom he had already paid lin. gering on. Asked what he wanted, the man, who was an old soldier, sent to cash a cheque by a Government department, said that he was waiting for 100 sovereigns, part of his cheque, which the cashier had not yet given him. The latter was under the impression that he had completed the payment, but the old soldier turned out his bag. It was not there, and, as there was not the slightest doubt of his honesty, the cashier paid him out another £IOO bag of gold. At night he was £IOO short, and is now paying it up in instalments. Some smart individual in the crowd had annexed the amount while the old soldier was busy co'jnting the earler portion of his payment.

DEALING WITH FORGED CHEQUES. Forgery is the terror of the bank cashier, for it is difficult, to detect, and may relieve him of a large sum at one blow. It must be remembered that every uncrossed cheque presented at the bank on which it is drawn, must either be paid at once or a legal reason given for its non-payment. If a suspicious cheque is not paid, and turns out to be genuine, it may lose the bank a good account, or even involve it in an action at law. Thus it is easy to imagine that some awkward transactions arise at times. But there are devices for meeating most of them. A forged cheque is usually presented by an innocent third party—a messenger. A few skilful questions addressed to him will give much information upon which a decision, to pay or not to pay, can usually be safely based. Or some purely technical

reason may be given for not paying the cheque, thus gaining time and allowing the drawer to be communicated with. If the cheque is presented by a guilty party any appearance of delay of payment, any semblance of keen scrutiny, renders him uneasy. He makes some excuse about returning in a few minates, and hurries off dreading lest the delay may be due to the bank authorities having sent for the police ; and so the cashier is left with a worthless piece of paper and a sense of danger escaped.—''Tit Bits."