a) What is a Check?

According to the legal free dictionary, a check is a written order instructing a

bank to pay upon its presentation to the person designated in it, or to the person
possessing it, a certain sum of money from the account of the person who draws
it. As a written order to pay money, a check may be transferred from one
person to another by endorsement.
b) The Characteristics of the Cheque
There are many versions that say the word Check comes from the French
world Chque and others that say that it comes from the 17th century banking
system, but the real version remains that this word originated from the Arab
word Saqq. In the Arab history, Saqq was a written vow used for paying for
goods when they were delivered, in addition to another way for avoiding money
having to be transported across dangerous roads. In the 9th century, a Muslim
businessman could cash a Cheque in China drawn on his bank in Baghdad.
c) The History of the Cheque:
In the ancient banking system, bankers would issue orders at the request of their
customers, to pay money to identified payees. Such an order was referred to as
a bill of exchange. The use of bills of exchange facilitated trade by eliminating
the need for merchants to carry large quantities of currency like gold so as to
purchase goods and services.
d) Why do we call it a Check?
The four main elements on a Cheque are:

Drawer: the person or entity who makes the Cheque.

Payee: the recipient of the money.

Drawee: the bank or other financial institution where the Cheque can be
presented for payment.

Amount : the currency amount.

The drawer usually has a checking account where his money was previously
deposited. The drawer writes the various details including the monetary amount,
date, and a payee on the Cheque. Then signs it, ordering the bank, known as
the Drawee, to pay that person or company the amount of money stated.
e) Types of Checks:
There are so many types of checks; some of them are the postdated check, the
cashier's check, the barred Check, the endorsed Check, and the certified check.
A Certified check is one that the bank validates by verifying that there is enough
funds in the account of the drawer, in order to honor the Cheque. The funds are
then set apart in the bank's internal account until the Cheque is cashed or
returned by the payee. Thus, a certified Cheque cannot "bounce", and its
liquidity is similar to cash, absent failure of the bank.
An Endorsed Check is one in which the payment of the check is guaranteed by
a neutral third party. In order to affix in the endorsed check, it is important to
have a specific mention, the name of the person to whom the guarantee is given,
the amount for which the guarantee is given, and the signature of the issuer of
the downstream.
A Barred Check issued ordinarily by the bank cannot be liquidated by someone
who does not have a bank account because this check is not endorsable.
Cashier's check is one that the bank draws on itself and is signed by an
authorized bank official. The bank lends its credit to the purchaser of the check
in order to facilitate its immediate use in commercial transactions. It is a direct
obligation of the bank.

A postdated check is one that bears a date after its date of issuance, and is
payable on the stated date.

f) The crimes concerned with Cheques: The cheque fraud remains one of the
most common types of frauds used nowadays, because of the extensive
 use of checks while doing business. There are three main types of Cheque
fraud:
Embezzlement: Embezzlement is a fraud based on taking advantage of the
float period to delay the notice of non-existent funds. This often involves
trying to convince a merchant or other recipient, hoping the recipient will
not suspect that the Cheque will not clear, giving time for the fraudster to
disappear.

Forgery: Forgery is the method of choice in defrauding a bank. One form

of forgery involves the use of a victim's legitimate Cheques, that have
either been stolen and then cashed, or altering a Cheque that has been
legitimately written to the perpetrator, by adding words and/or digits to
inflate the amount.
Identity Theft: Since Cheques include significant personal information
(name, account number, signature and in some countries driver's license
number, the address and/or phone number of the account holder), they can
be used for fraud, specifically identity theft. In the US and Canada until
recent years the social security number was sometimes included on
Cheques. The practice was discontinued as identity theft became
widespread.
Cheques fraud in Morocco: Cashing a check exposes the issuer to an
immediate ban on issuing checks if funds are absent or insufficient in his
account. In general, the issuers bank shall promptly inform Bank Al-
Maghreb of the payment incident, and address a letter to the issuer asking
him to not issue checks in the future, for a period of 10 years, besides
checks allowing the withdrawal of funds or those who are certified. In
order to avoid a payment issue, sometimes bankers cover their preferred
customers in several ways such as sending them an immediate warning,
moving their account to the Debiteur mode, or rejecting the Cheques for
a simple reason other than a lack of funds.