Can a stolen Government cheque be cashed by someone else?

If a cheque is made out to you, and you don't sign it over to them, then it is illegal for them to cash it.

There is nothing physically to stop them depositing it to their account through and ATM. What will happen is:

• The money will appear to be in their account, but they will not be able to take it out until the cheque has cleared.
• During the clearance process the bank will confirm that the cheque is genuine. Since it is not made out to her they will check that you have signed it.
• If it isn't signed then the cheque will be rejected. If the person who stole it has forged your signature then it will probably be accepted. It may at some point be compared to your real signature, but the check may not be a very thorough one. However if they have reason to doubt that you really did sign it then the check will be more thourough. If they detect that you didn't sign it then the money will not be credited to the thief's account (or will be withdrawn if it was previously credited.)

In any case if you know your cheque was stolen your action should be immediately report it to the government that issued it. They will probably invalidate the old one and cut you a new one. Additionally you can report the thief to the police, and they may face crimninal charges.