AN ACCOUNTANCY student who cashed fake travellers' cheques had been taken in by a nationwide fraud scheme, a court has heard.
Moshin Shahzad, 23, denies two counts of fraud after he cashed cheques worth 2,000 Euros and attempted to cash another 2,000 Euros, but was stopped by a post office cashier.
Shahzad, a Pakistani student who lives in Angel Road, Port Talbot, had gone to the town's post office and tried to cash four cheques through cashier Claire Jones.
She became suspicious that the paper they were printed on was "cheap" and said they were not crisp or sharp.
She also said it was an unusual for such high value of cheques to be brought into the branch.
When police arrived Shahzad told them he had already paid another batch of cheques in days earlier to the Natwest branch.
Shahzad had cashed the money into his Natwest account before transferring it to a Belgian account via the Western Union service.
He was told to take £100 as his payment.
In his interview he told officers he had applied for a job working in a factory on the Gumtree website. He received a reply from a Gordon James telling him that job had gone, but he could have a temporary, part-time job in Prudential PLCs Sales department.
He was told his job would be to transfer money to branches across Europe.
Once he accepted the job Shahzad received an email containing instructions.
It told him that weekly envelopes containing cheques would arrive and he would have to cash them and transfer the money.
Prosecuting barrister Ieuan Rees said the way he received the cheques and the way he had to cash them should have made it obvious there was a fraud under way.
Shahzad's barrister Christopher Rees said his client had been taken in by a nationwide scam.
He said police had issued warnings to unemployed people and students about similar schemes.
He showed the jury emails where Shahzad had contacted the company asking for their registered details and confirming the role was legal.
The response read: "The job and payments are 100 per cent legal."
The trial continues.
