The Banking Ombudsman has warned people who use cheques to take care to cross them correctly to make sure they go to the intended person.
Cheques were still in common use, especially by small businesses, ombudsman Deborah Battell said.
"We continue to see cases of theft where stolen cheques have been deposited by fraudsters into their own accounts and the proceeds then withdrawn."
Merely marking a cheque "not negotiable" by crossing it, or crossing out the "or bearer" option below the payee field did not prevent fraudsters from depositing it into an account different from that intended by the payer.
Instead, cheque writers should write either 'account payee only' or 'not transferable' to ensure the money was paid only to the person named on the cheque, Ms Battell said.
