Should you accept a cheque for more than the asking price?

No. A cheque for more than the asking price, with a request to send the difference back, is a recognised fraud pattern rather than a generous buyer. The usual version works like this: a fraudster pays you with a fake cheque for more than the agreed value, gives an excuse for the overpayment, and asks you to return the difference in cash or by an untraceable money transfer. The cheque then bounces, and the money you sent is gone¹.

The reason it catches people is timing. A cheque can take up to a week to clear, and the money is not available to withdraw until it has². What appears in your account in the meantime is not a settled payment, and a counterfeit, forged or altered cheque can be reversed after it has been credited.

Cheque fraud is a small share of UK payment fraud but a persistent one. Losses on cheques came to £4.1m in 2025, down 49% on 2024, while £107.4m of cheque fraud was prevented, up 100% on the year before³. Across all payment types, the industry prevented £1.68 billion of unauthorised fraud in 2025, equivalent to 70p in every £1 of attempted fraud⁴.

An overpayment by cheque is a classic sign of fraud

The overpayment request is the tell. A buyer sends more money than they need to pay for the item and asks you to return the difference⁷. Sometimes the extra is framed as an accident, sometimes as an overpayment for shipping, and sometimes the criminal asks for the surplus to be sent on to a third party, for example a "shipping agent"⁷. Either way, the money you send back is real and the cheque is not.

The same shape appears in other frauds. Being asked to pay a fee in advance for a loan is a warning sign of loan fee fraud⁸, and it is more suspicious still if you are asked to pay quickly or in an unusual way, such as with vouchers or a money transfer⁹. A request to move money by bank transfer can itself be a sign of a scam¹⁰. The common thread is that the fraudster wants value to move in one direction, quickly, before anything can be checked.

Overpayment is not confined to cheques. Criminals may ask you to buy or hand over high-value items such as jewellery, gold, watches, mobile phones or foreign currency¹¹. If someone asks you to lie to your bank, hang up, as this is a scam¹¹.

Counterfeit, forged or altered: how fake cheques work

There are three types of cheque scam: counterfeit, forged and fraudulently altered¹². Knowing which one you are looking at explains why the bank can reverse it.

A counterfeit cheque is printed to look exactly like those that are genuine but has been created and written by a criminal for the purposes of committing fraud¹². Some are made to look like real cheques but are drawn by a scammer on genuine accounts¹³, and some are a completely fictitious cheque⁵.

A forged cheque is one that has been stolen from you and used by a criminal by forging your signature¹². This is the version that affects you as the account holder rather than as a seller.

A fraudulently altered cheque is genuine but has been altered in some way before being paid in, for example by altering the payee's name or the amount of the cheque¹². Payee amounts or names may have been altered, or the security features of the cheque tampered with⁵.

When someone purposefully gives you a cheque that they know you cannot cash, it is known as cheque fraud⁵.

Wait until the cheque has cleared before handing anything over

The single rule that prevents most of this is to wait. Do not give or provide any goods or services until the cheque has cleared⁵. The money will not be available until the cheque has cleared¹⁵, and a cheque can take up to a week to clear².

Clearing times have changed. A quicker clearing time also means that when you have written a cheque, money will leave your account sooner than it did under the old "2-4-6" clearing process¹⁶. For cheques paid in at the Post Office using a special purpose paying in envelope, the clearing cycle is increased by one working day¹⁷. Cheque payments to a credit card provider may need to clear before the payment is applied, with seven working days allowed for it to clear¹⁸.

Cheques are not always quick even when everything is genuine. Premium Bonds prize cheques can take till the end of the month to arrive through the post¹⁹. The delay is normal; what matters is not treating an uncleared credit as spendable money.

Cheque fraud losses: £4.1m, with £107.4m stopped before any loss

Cheque fraud losses fell to £4.1m in 2025, down 49% on 2024, across 795 cases, a fall of 28%¹. Alongside those losses, £107.4m of cheque fraud was prevented, up 100% on the year before¹. Across payments as a whole, the industry prevented £1.68 billion of unauthorised fraud in 2025, equivalent to 70p in every £1 of attempted fraud, with £1,333.3m of that prevented on UK-issued cards². The Dedicated Card and Payment Crime Unit, a police unit funded by the industry, has prevented just over £1 billion from being stolen from customers since 2004¹.

The industry figures put cheque fraud in context. Cheque losses were £4.1m in 2025, a fall of 49% on 2024, across 795 cases, down 28%³. Prevented cheque fraud was £107.4m in 2025, up 100% on 2024⁴. Set against the £4.1m lost, that is the great majority of attempted cheque fraud stopped before any loss.

The wider picture is larger. The industry prevented £1.68 billion of unauthorised fraud in 2025, equivalent to 70p in every £1 of attempted fraud⁴. Unauthorised card fraud prevented came to £1,333.3m, up 12%³. Since 2004, the Dedicated Card and Payment Crime Unit has prevented just over £1 billion from being stolen from customers and disrupted 421 organised crime groups³.

Complaints about cheques do reach the Financial Ombudsman Service, though in small numbers: 57 cheque complaints were opened in Q1 2026/27²⁰. The ombudsman's published examples of cheque and bankers' draft complaints include a cheque that bounced after being paid in, a bank that did not pay a written cheque or paid after cancellation, a cheque lost, stolen or forged, and a banker's draft that turned out to be fake or went missing and was not refunded²¹.

Safer ways to take payment for something you are selling

The alternative to a cheque is a payment method where the money is settled and harder to reverse. Guidance for buyers is to pay by credit card if it is more than £100, by debit card or by PayPal rather than bank transfer, because there is more protection⁸. For work on a home, paying by credit card rather than cash gives extra protection, and you may be able to get your money back if something goes wrong²². Use secure payment methods and avoid paying by bank transfer²³.

For sellers, the advice is blunter: be wary of accepting payment for goods by cheque⁷. Only accept cheques from people you know and trust, and ask for a different method of payment if it involves a lot of money²⁴. If you do take a cheque, use a pen when writing one and put a line through any empty spaces²⁴.

The trade-off is straightforward. A cheque gives the buyer time and gives the seller a clearing delay and a reversal risk. A card or a secure platform payment settles faster and leaves a record. Where a lot of money is involved, the guidance is to ask for a different method rather than to accept the cheque and hope²⁴.

Should I accept a cheque from someone I don't know?

The published guidance is to only accept cheques from people you know and trust, and to ask for a different method of payment if it involves a lot of money²⁴. Do not accept a cheque for a greater amount than is requested⁵. Those two rules cover most of the risk.

There is a second reason to be careful about who has your details. Identity theft can show up as bills or receipts for goods or services you have not asked for²⁵. If you have handed over documents or account information to someone who turns out to be a fraudster, that is a separate problem from the cheque itself.

If you are selling something and the buyer insists on a cheque, the practical position is that you are accepting a delay and a reversal risk in exchange for nothing. A buyer who genuinely wants the item can usually pay another way. A buyer who cannot, and who has sent too much, is the pattern this page is about.

How do fraudsters get in touch with sellers?

Payment in advance fraud, also known as advance fee fraud, is when a criminal contacts you via text, email or social media²⁶. The same channels carry most overpayment approaches, and some come through the advert or listing itself.

Some frauds are more targeted. Criminals often pose as solicitors to trick homebuyers into sending deposit or purchase money to their accounts²⁷. That version is aimed at people selling or buying property, where the sums are large enough to justify the effort.

Follow-up approaches are common. Be alert to follow-up scams: criminals may contact you again pretending they can recover your money for a fee²⁸. Someone who has already taken money from you is a good prospect for a second attempt, and the offer of recovery is itself a known fraud pattern.

If you think you have been caught by cheque fraud

The immediate steps are set out by the Financial Ombudsman Service: contact your bank or payment services provider immediately, contact the police on 101, report the scam to Report Fraud, and keep records of all contact and correspondence between you and the scammer⁶. If you think you have paid for a fake ticket or shared your financial information with a criminal, contact your bank immediately²³. Contact your bank immediately if money or account details are involved, and you can also report it to the police at reportfraud.police.uk or by calling 0300 123 2040²⁹.

Where a bank transfer was involved rather than a cheque, different rules apply. If your bank or payment service provider does decide to reimburse you, it may deduct an excess of up to £100 for each scam claim³⁰. Your bank can deduct £100 from the refund they give you unless you are considered as vulnerable under the rules³¹. Tell the bank immediately, because you may have to pay up to £35 of any unauthorised payments taken before you notify them³¹.

If the bank does not resolve it, the Financial Ombudsman Service can look at complaints about cheques and bankers' drafts²¹. Complaints about scams where you were tricked into making a payment are handled separately³⁰. For a broader route through the options, see claiming a refund from your bank after a push payment loss and taking a refused scam refund to the Financial Ombudsman.