Unfortunately, in this day and age you do need to be cautious about bank drafts, official cheques and certified cheques… all of which can be counterfeit. It is sometimes very difficult to tell if an instrument is counterfeit on its face. The bank can take a couple of days to recognize the issue, at which point they will not honour the deposit and the law firm is on the hook for any moneys that have been paid out on these “cleared funds”. So the source of the bank instrument is extremely important. See the “scams” section on the Law Society’s website.
