Mobile Cheque Deposit Scam
In this scam, you are paid to deposit cheques using your mobile banking app and forward most of the funds, but the cheques are fake; when they bounce, the money is reversed and you are left liable, and you may be muling fraud.
By the Scam or Safe Editorial TeamResearched & reviewed for accuracyQuick verdict
Understanding this scam
In this scam, you are paid to deposit cheques using your mobile banking app and forward most of the funds, but the cheques are fake; when they bounce, the money is reversed and you are left liable, and you may be muling fraud.
Bank and payment scams weaponise your trust in your bank and your fear of losing money. They fake fraud alerts, blocked payments, or refunds, then steer you into moving money to a "safe account", sharing a one-time code, or approving a transfer, actions a genuine bank will never ask of you.
If you take one thing from this guide, make it this: Someone pays you to deposit cheques via your app and forward the funds. Refuse. Do not deposit cheques for others or forward the funds.
If your message looks slightly different, check the Fake Cheque Scam or the Money Mule Job Scam, both are close cousins of this pattern. Every related guide lives in the Bank & Payment Scams guides, and the scam checker can scan the text you received.
A typical example
This is a fictional, anonymised example used to illustrate the pattern. It is not a verified real message, and any names are used only to show how the scam typically reads.
The tell here: Someone pays you to deposit cheques via your app and forward the funds.
What the data shows
Warning signs
- A request to deposit cheques via your app for someone else
- Permission to keep a percentage
- A request to forward most of the funds
- Use of your personal account for others' cheques
- Pressure to act quickly
Your safest response
- Refuse to deposit cheques for others or forward funds
- Never let others route money through your account
- Be wary of 'easy money' deposit jobs
- Report the request to your bank and authorities
If you have already engaged
- Stop forwarding any funds immediately
- Contact your bank, as your account may be used for fraud and frozen
- Expect bounced cheques to be reversed, leaving you liable
- Keep evidence and report it to authorities
What to avoid
- Do not deposit cheques for other people
- Do not forward funds from deposited cheques
- Do not assume 'available' funds are truly cleared
You might also see
Fake Cheque Scam
A buyer, employer, or prize giver sends a cheque for more than you are owed and asks you to deposit it and send back the difference. The cheque later bounces, the bank reclaims the full amount, and you are left owing the money you sent on.
Created by Scam or Safe Editorial Team
Money Mule Job Scam
This scam hires you as a 'payment processor', 'financial agent', or 'transfer assistant' to receive money into your account and forward it on, making you a money mule who launders the proceeds of fraud.
Created by Scam or Safe Editorial Team
Cheque Cashing Service Scam
In this scam, a fake or predatory cheque-cashing service offers to cash your cheque quickly, then charges extortionate hidden fees, underpays you, or takes the cheque and disappears.
Created by Scam or Safe Editorial Team
Questions people ask
Why is this illegal or risky?
But I keep a cut, so isn't it a job?
I already deposited and forwarded funds. What now?
How do I spot this?
Last reviewed June 2026 · Written & reviewed by the Scam or Safe Editorial Team