Auckland police are warning people of a scam doing the rounds involving fake travellers cheques.

Sellers on websites such as Trade Me are being contacted and offered payment in travellers cheques. When the sellers have taken the cheques to the bank to cash, they have been found to be fairly obvious counterfeits.

Sergeant Rachel Wood says police are trying to confirm where the scam is originating from. She says they have been alerted over the past two days to around 20 fake travellers cheques presented to banks. She says it appears some of the cheques are in the currency of pounds, but some of the email addresses attached to the scam look like they have come from South Africa.

Ms Wood says this is a reminder to people selling goods over the internet that they should not accept travellers cheques as payment. She is also asking retailers and banks to be wary, saying all overseas travellers cheques should be treated with suspicion and general members of the public should not be accepting them for payment at all.

Ms Wood says the counterfeit cheques are printed on poor quality paper with a silver square as a hologram.