The public is being asked to look out for unscrupulous persons who are trying to get fake National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA) cheques encashed.

Joan Gordon-Webley, executive director of the agency, yesterday made the disclosure that there had already been three attempts by persons in Montego Bay, St James, to cash such cheques at banks in that city.

smaller value

The cheques were valued between $60,000 and $70,000. The executive director said that further investigations would be done to see if any cheques of smaller value, which might have been fake, had been encashed.

"The matter was brought to our attention yesterday (Thursday) after a bank teller in Montego Bay called us to verify a cheque," Gordon-Webley said. "The person who presented the cheque vanished but the bank has her ID."

different banks

Gordon-Webley said that she had been informed of two other incidents at different banks after Thursday's incident.

The matter has since been reported to the Fraud Squad in St James.

In a release issued yesterday, the NSWMA said: "It has been brought to the attention of the authority that persons are presenting fraudulent cheques purporting to be from our regional offices, drawn on the National Commercial Bank."

It continued that the public should seek verification for all cheques presented.