In a “bad cheque” scam, fraudsters will pose as clients, and attempt to dupe you into depositing what appears to be a genuine certified cheque, bank draft or money order, or even a regular cheque into your trust account. On the strength of that deposit, you will then be asked to pay good funds or wire transfer the client money out of trust. After the funds are gone, you will discover that the original deposit is fake, leaving your trust account overdrawn. The details of the scam, including the method of payment, may change as fraudsters become more sophisticated.

The Law Society of British Columbia offers a variety of resources specific to bad cheque scams, including “The bad cheque scam – don’t get caught” free webinar and a list of their own bad cheque scam publications.