36-year-old granted $500,000 bail after facing two different counts

Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago: A 36-year-old man was granted $500,000 Bail after facing two counts of Uttering a Forged Valuable Security and Attempting to acquire money by False Pretence.

Reportedly, the suspect was identified as Spartacus Coutain of New City Avenue, Valencia.

It is to be noted that Coutain appeared before Justice of the Peace Stephen Young and is supposed to appear before the Magistrate on Friday, December 29, 2023.

Notably, on Friday, November 24, a financial institution reported that a man proposed a Central Bank cheque drawn of $900,000.000 for encashment on the account of the Ministry of Rural Development and Local Government.

Initially, the cheque was accepted as genuine; however, later on, upon verification, it was found to be fraudulent.

As soon as the reality was discovered, the fraud squad was contacted in due course of time and they apprehended a 36-year-old man.

It is to be added in the remarks of the officials that when they advocated further enquiries, they came to know that on May 23, 2023, Coutain deposited a Central Bank cheque drawn on the account of the Ministry of Works and Transport for $500,000.00 into his account.

However, the suspect received no money in both instances, as the cheque was discovered to be deceitful.

Afterwards, a 36-year-old was charged by Cpl Williams of the Fraud Squad for the crime he committed on Wednesday, November 29, 2023.

Moreover, similar instances of crime put the scrutinizing system of banks under serious threat.

Such stances of crime put the financial security of the nation at risk. Additionally, fraudsters are even using cheques to carry out fraud and wipe out money from the bank accounts of innocent people.

They alter the original cheque issued by the account holder, and they create a fake cheque on non-bank paper. Counterfeit cheque looks exactly the same as an original cheque, but they can be fake.

In this type of fraud, the cheque is intentionally manipulated to change some of its details such as date, the amount or the beneficiary etc.