KUALA LUMPUR: For 10 years, Wong Choong Leong has been donating to charities whenever members of his family celebrate their birthdays.

However, the 46-year-old father of three is thinking of stopping the tradition after a RM20 cheque turned into a RM12,000 loss.

On Sept 3, he mailed three cheques for RM20 to three different charity bodies, with only one cheque reaching its intended recipient.

Wong received a call from his bank on Sept 19 asking for confirmation for a cheque payment of RM8,264 to a personal account.

“I did not recognise the payee and I told my bank to stop payment,” he said at a press conference held by the MCA Public Services and Complaints Department at Wisma MCA here yesterday.

However, he failed to stop payment for the other cheque as he was not informed by the bank.

“On Sept 26, I noticed that my bank balance was unusually low. I was shocked to find RM12,000 was missing from my account.”

Wong requested images of the cheques from the bank and discovered that all the payment details had been altered, except for his signature.

He lodged a report at the Brickfields police station the same day.

That was not the end of his troubles.

The police issued him a letter the following day saying there was no element of commercial crime in the case. The police asked him to refer to his bank instead.

“I was shocked. I wonder if there was any investigation done before the letter was issued,” Wong added.

Department head Datuk Seri Michael Chong said Wong’s case was the second one he received this year related to cheque fraud.

“Since 2010, I have received seven cases totalling RM61,916.20.

“I am sure there are more out there,” he said, adding that authorities should find a solution to such cases.

– THE STAR