Cheque Forgery: How to Spot, Prevent and Report It

Cheque forgery is a crime in which someone fakes, alters or falsely signs a cheque to take money from your account. If you spot it, call your bank first and ask it to stop payment on the cheque. Then file a police complaint.

• Forged signatures, altered amounts, counterfeit leaves and misused blank cheques are the 4 common types.
• Report in 5 steps: bank, written complaint, police, Bajaj Finance if a loan is affected, and evidence.
• Forgery is an offence under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (BNS), in force since 1 July 2024.

Check your statement today for signs of cheque forgery, such as a cheque you did not write. Then count the leaves left in your cheque book against the counterfoils of the cheques you issued. If a forged cheque drains the account that pays your Bajaj Finance equated monthly instalment (EMI), call the Bajaj Finance helpline on 8698010101 and choose the "Report a Fraud" option.

Cheque forgery is the act of faking, changing or falsely signing a cheque so that money leaves an account without the owner's consent. The forger either makes a false cheque or tampers with a genuine one.

A cheque is a written order to your bank to pay a named person a fixed amount. Your bank pays it after checking the signature, amount and date. In cheque forgery, the forger copies your signature, changes what you wrote, or prints a fake leaf.

A bounced cheque is different. It is a genuine cheque returned unpaid, for example for lack of funds. If a stranger paid you by cheque and wants money back, read the guide to fake cheque scams instead.

What are the 4 types of cheque forgery?

The 4 types of cheque forgery are forged signatures, altered cheques, counterfeit cheques and misused stolen or blank cheques. Each type attacks a different part of the cheque that your bank checks before paying.

The table below shows how each type of cheque forgery works and the sign you can spot.

Three of these 4 types of cheque forgery need a real leaf from your cheque book. Guarding that book protects you more than any printed security feature.

What should you do if you spot cheque forgery?

If you spot cheque forgery, call your bank at once and ask for a stop-payment instruction and a block on the cheque book. A forged cheque that your bank has not yet paid can still be stopped, so act on the same day.

Follow these 5 steps in order:

1. Call your bank. Use the number in your passbook or on the bank's official website. Ask the bank to stop payment on the cheque numbers involved and to block all the unused leaves in that book.
2. Complain in writing. Send the bank a written cheque forgery complaint with the cheque number, amount, date and payee. Keep the bank's acknowledgement.
3. Go to the police. Visit your local police station with your bank statement and complaint copy. Ask for a copy of the first information report (FIR) or a complaint receipt.
4. Tell Bajaj Finance if a loan is affected. If the forged cheque emptied the account that pays your Bajaj Finance EMI, call 8698010101 and choose "Report a Fraud".
5. Keep the evidence. Keep your counterfoils, statements, complaint copies and messages.

Getting your money back is not guaranteed. Your bank investigates the cheque forgery and decides the claim on its findings.

You prevent cheque forgery by controlling who can see, hold and change your cheques. Seven habits close the gaps forgers use.

• Fill every field first: write the date, payee, and amount in words and figures before signing.
• Close the gaps: draw a line after the payee name and the amount, and end the amount in words with "only", so cheque forgery by adding digits fails.
• Cross the cheque: draw two lines at the top left with "A/c payee" between them, so it pays only into the payee's account.
• Never correct a mistake: cancel a cheque with an error and write a fresh one, because overwriting makes cheque forgery harder to detect.
• Lock up your cheque book: note every leaf you issue on its counterfoil.
• Keep cheque photos private: a photo of a signed cheque gives a forger your account number and signature.
• Watch your account: turn on text message (SMS) alerts and read your statement every month.

For regular payments, a unified payments interface (UPI) or bank transfer avoids a paper cheque.

Who bears the loss from cheque forgery?

Who bears the loss from cheque forgery depends on whether the bank or the account holder was careless. No rule says that a bank refunds every forged cheque. Your bank must match the signature on a cheque with the specimen signature it holds before it pays. If the bank paid a cheque with a plainly different signature, you have grounds to claim the money from the bank. If you left a signed blank cheque where others took it, your own carelessness weakens that claim. Escalate to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Integrated Ombudsman Scheme at cms.rbi.org.in if your bank rejects your cheque forgery complaint or does not reply.

Is cheque forgery a crime under Indian law?

Yes. Forging a cheque is a criminal offence under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (BNS), which replaced the Indian Penal Code (IPC) on 1 July 2024. The BNS punishes making a forged document and using one as genuine. Older articles cite IPC Sections 464, 468 and 471 for this offence. Those sections apply only to offences committed before 1 July 2024. For cheque forgery after that date, the BNS applies.

Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 covers a different problem. It deals with a genuine cheque that bounces for lack of funds, not a forged cheque. A criminal case punishes the forger but does not return your money.

Can cheque forgery affect your Bajaj Finance EMI or CIBIL score?

Cheque forgery affects your Bajaj Finance loan only if it empties the bank account that pays your EMI. The forged cheque itself does not appear on your credit report. A credit report from a credit bureau such as CIBIL records how you repay loans and credit cards. It does not list cheques paid from your savings account. A drained account, though, can cause an EMI payment to fail, and a missed EMI shows on your credit report.

If cheque forgery leaves your account short before an EMI due date, call Bajaj Finance on 8698010101 before that date. Ask which other payment options let you pay that EMI on time.

Next steps

• Read the Bajaj Finance fraud awareness guide for warnings on fake loan fees, fake apps and fake calls.
• Raise a complaint, query or request with Bajaj Finance if cheque forgery has affected your Bajaj Finance loan account.
• Learn how to spot a fake payment screenshot if you sell goods online and accept payments from strangers.