How FNB assisted the ********** to rob me successful

<p>Good Day</p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p>I'm reporting this to raise awareness to anyone that might fall victim to the cheque ****, as the banks told me that they don't have any process with regards to cheque **********. </p> <p> </p> <p><br />Last week Wednesday 13 June 2017 I was selling a playstation 4. I received a call from a potential buyer which goes by the name Richard, minutes after the advert and he inform me that he will make a cash payment via ATM while his friend Sean will come to view and pick up the PS4. I agreed with the terms as I know that ATM deposit reflects immediately without being aware that cheque deposits act the similar way by sending notification from the bank notifying the success of the payment. </p> <p> </p> <p><br />I met with his Sean at 14:48 to view the playstation. After his Sean viewed the PS4, he called him and confirm that the product is in order. Richard then called me confirming the purchase price and I told him it's R4000.</p> <p> </p> <p><br />Seconds after confirming the purchase price I received a message form FNB notifying me about the R4000 deposit that is made into my account. After receiving the notification I released the Playstation as I hada confirmation from the bank, that confirmed the payment.</p> <p> </p> <p><br />The following morning I received a notification from FNB, stating that the transaction was unsuccessful. With my surprised to that, I called customer care and I was inform that the payment was a cheque deposit not a cash deposit and it's going to take 10 day to clear and the consultant on the line advised me to go into the branch if I need it to be cleared immediately.</p> <p> </p> <p><br />I went to the Claremont branch as per the telephone consultant advised and again I was caught by surprised when Thariq told me that there's a note on the payment that states that the cheque payment was a possible ********** and if I need more info, I need to call Tasneem by Long Street FNB branch. I then called Tasneem who told me that the cheque was ********** and it's the second time they received that ********** cheque.</p> <p> </p> <p><br />The biggest question that I have is, why did I received a notification confirming the payment before the payment is cleared as it normally does with EFT payment and Cash payment. The ***** was successful due to the failure of the Bank to firstly verify the cheque before confirming the payment which resultant to me to become a victim of **********, whereby if there was no notification I was not going to release the product.</p>