A self-employed chauffeur from Aberdeen has come forward to warn other drivers about a fake travellers’ cheques scam which would have cost his bank thousands of pounds.

David Craig advertises his chauffeur services on online, and was contacted by a potential customer via the driving site. Using the name Kelvin Moore, the man stated he would like to employ Mr Craig as his chauffeur while he was visiting Aberdeen for research purposes from Nigeria.

The customer then offered to pay the 66-year-old chauffeur an advance payment of £300 and sent over three travellers’ cheques, worth €1,500. However Mr Craig became suspicious when the customer then asked for him to cash the cheques at a Western Union branch, take out his share for his chauffeur services, and transfer the rest of the money back to him to pay for “airport fees.”

Suspecting there was something amiss, the chauffeur took the cheques to the bank where they discovered they were indeed fake. However the bank believe the cheques stood a high chance of being cashed at a Western Union branch, and should this have happened, the bank would have been thousands of pounds out of pocket.

The chauffeur from Aberdeen decided to come forward with his story to warn other chauffeur who could well find themselves in a similar position.

The incident has been reported to the police. They believe Mr Craig could be one of thousands of people in the UK who are targeted by Nigerian gangs to have money sent out to them through the use of forged cheques.