Peril of cheques for the taxman

Independent tax adviser John Edwards of Cranbrook, Kent, has illustrated the danger of posting money to HMRC.

He told us the story of a client who in January last year sent the Revenue a cheque for £1.298.94, only to have it intercepted by a fraudster.

It was originally made out to “HM Revenue and Customs”, with a reference code above the pay line.

But the swindler altered the recipient’s name to something along the lines of “Mr Musthab Ismail”, keeping the code.

NatWest not only honoured the amount but was also slow to reimburse John’s client once alerted to the crime.

Here’s a (redacted) image of the crudely manipulated cheque.