is this a con

[choc1]

has anyone ever heard of a solicitor asking for a 1p cheque as identification.?if so,why?

[Miss Zippy]

Solicitors (like all financial services firms and also now estate agents and casinos etc.) are bound by the Money Laundering Regulations. This means that before they can conduct regulated business, they must obtain satisfactory evidence of a person's identity and residential address. Although the solicitor should also have asked for other forms of ID, such as a passport or utility bill, a cheque drawn on a UK bank (ie, an entity which is also bound by the UK Money Laundering Regulations and which would have had to have carried out checks on the individual prior to accepting their business) is just another way of proving identify as the solicitor is able to rely on identity checks carried out on that bank as at is also bound by the ML regs.