FRAUDULENT cheques issued in the name of Yee Hong Centre for Geriatric Care have been discovered in Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver. The cheques were sent out through different company names, all purporting to be sponsored by the non-profit geriatric care organization.

The scam required recipients to deposit the counterfeit cheques of a few thousand dollars each into their personal bank accounts and then send a scanned copy of the deposit slips back to the scam artists through email, in order to obtain the personal and financial information of the depositors.

A spokesperson for Yee Hong Centre for Geriatric Care said today that the Centre had been informed of the scam and had in the last few days received a few telephone enquiries regarding the suspicious cheques. After thorough investigation, the cheques were confirmed to be counterfeit and had not issued by the Centre. This incident is believed to be a typical cheque fraud scam and has been reported to the police.

The spokesman reminded the fraudulent cheques recipients, mostly South Asians in the three Canadian cities, not to respond to the deposit requests. Cashing counterfeit cheques may result in liability or criminal offence.