Has anybody ever been conned via a bankers draft because I'm not aware. They are usually seen as more secure because they are actually recorded with the bank and its easy to verify.

You can only be conned if you do not bother to call the issuing bank to confirm that they have the cheque in their books and that it is payable to you.

OK; My mistake. I dind't do that. And come think of it, the con-man was clever enough to bring the cheque on a Saturday afternoon (banks had closed) and he collected the goods that I was selling...

from that incident, I stopped asking people to give banker's cheques. Just pay me with a personal one, wait 4 working days and collect the goods. If you are in a hurry, RTGS the money to my account - my bank is good enough to call me as soon as they get the money (I don't even have to call them).

@jason; this was long before Mpesa was born, but yes, that is another secure way of payment.

No, I once worked as a bank branch manager and know a number of cases where cheques have been actually been 'confirmed with the bank,'goods released only for the cheque to turn out fraudulent!
Business folks don't trust bankers cheques that's why they insist they have to go through the clearing cycle like personal cheques. Even some banks paying their customers against other bank's personal cheques will insist this cheque goes through the entire clearing process of T+3 days before paying out.
Note that unscrupulous bank staff working in cahoots with the fraudster can 'confirm' a bank cheque!
But most frightening is the level of criminal sophistication where you actually place a call to the bank to confirm a cheque is genuine and somehow the fraudsters (who are expecting you to call the bank to confirm as is the usual case) 'pull your call/line' and pretending they re bank staffe, proceed to confirm the 'genuiness' of the cheque only for you to release goods that you will never see or be paid for ever. There are few incidents of this so far in Kenya but many have been quietly observed in Ug.

ADVICE: Use RTGS. If you are being paid cash beware the seller (esp if unknown to you) could offload counterfeit notes on you, so better go with the seller to your bank and he deposits in your account or he brings you the deposit slip (you can call the manager to confirm it). The bank's cash counting machines will detect fakes.

However, the cheque truncation project which should go live nationally in Kenya I think in July 2011 will very significantly reduce no. of clearing days as well as the instances of cheque fraud.