"He then requested if I would accept a LPO with current cheque," That is the red flag right there. The NGO cannot pay untill the Goods are received and verified and its a long process.

I had almost the same thing happen to me last year, but in my case the “NGO” conmen offered to bank the cheque (Kshs. 390’000.00) in my account, which they did. Initially, the cheque bounced but upon inquiring with my branch, I was told it was a clearing house problem and the issuing bank had advised my bank to resubmit the cheque again.

The funds cleared but I was not yet ready for the collection (luck?). The conmen told me not to worry and they would collect the remainder later as “we trust you”. That simple statement is what set off a red flag and I hemmed and hawed over the delivery despite the conmen’s desperate attempts to collect. Needless to say, the funds were withdrawn from my account within 6 hours of being cleared. My branch told me a forged cheque had been deposited in a CBD branch. The conmen went mteja.

My mistakes: I believed them as they offered to bank the cheque and would only collect when it cleared. This led to me to not confirm with the procurement department of the “NGO”, and finally, after having being first conned 10 years ago when I first went into business, I was over confident I was smarter than them and they would never ever get me again. Except for their mistake, they almost did.

your account would be in deficit to the amount withdrawn. and maybe a little more for penalties.

Wazua, reuniting families since time immemorial!

Very likely an inside job with the bank, especially when one thinks of the cheque first bouncing due to clearing house issues, then the issuing bank asking for it to be banked again, then clearing, then ending up forged. If I had withdrawn the money, I highly suspect I would have been having long unpleasant "discussions" with some CID and Anti fraud jamas trying to convince them that it was not I, even though I never even saw the cheque, who masterminded the whole deal to make some extra cash.