Daniel Pressello is a victim of the recession. The unemployed trucker has been collecting employment insurance. This past summer he had some cheques to cash and went to his bank.

"I had to wait 45 minutes to half an hour because my account had some problems due to inactivity and I said I couldn't wait because I had some errands to run and a job interview," Pressello said.

He'd endorsed the cheques while waiting at the bank and when he came back the branch was closed. Pressello's endorsed cheques totaling over $1600 were stolen later that day and cashed at Money Mart.

He reported the theft to the Vancouver Police

"I have identified the woman that stole my cheques in a photo line-up at the police station and Money Mart has a video tape of the person or persons fraudulently cashing my cheques," Pressello said.

The federal government won't replace endorsed cheques, so if Pressello was to get his money back, it needed to come from Money Mart which cashed them.

We called Money Mart and sent e-mails on Pressello's behalf.

In an e-mail response, Money Mart customer service told us "Money Mart can only cash the cheque for whom the cheque is written to. We cannot cash endorsed cheques."

But that's exactly what happened. Money Mart cashed two endorsed cheques.

Money Mart promised an investigation. In an e-mail release it says the company and the Vancouver Police concluded:

"Money Mart cashed the cheques for someone other than Mr. Pressello. Money Mart is completing an internal review of the process followed in situations such as this to authenticate the cheque casher's identity. A reminder will be sent to all in-store employees that Money Mart will only cash cheques to the named payee and the payee's identity must be confirmed."

Translation? After nearly four months of waiting, Pressello got all his money back

"That worked out fine," a happy Pressello said after he collected the cash at the Money Mart.

Pressello is now having his E.I. cheques deposited directly to his bank account. And this case is a reminder to us all, to never endorse cheques until they are to be cashed. If they are stolen, they are like cash and un-doing the damage isn't easy.

With a report from CTV British Columbia's Chris Olsen.