Fake Check Scams
March 10th, 2010
by Guest Blogger
[Today's guest blogger is Susan from the Consumer Federation of America.]
An official-looking envelope arrives in the mail with a check or money order for $20,000 inside. The letter says you have won $4 million in a sweepstakes or lottery. You just need to wire $3,000 for taxes to claim the rest of your winnings. Is this your lucky day?
No! It’s a fake check scam that will cost you thousands. These scams take many forms. You might unexpectedly receive notice that you are getting a grant or that a company wants to hire you to work at home as a mystery shopper. You might be selling something and the “buyer” sends you more than your asking price with instructions to wire the extra money back to him or to someone else.
- A fake check from an FTC investigation
No matter the story, fake check scams always involve someone giving you a genuine-looking check or money order and asking you to wire money somewhere in return. After you deposit the check and send the money, you will learn that it was phony. The crook will have the money, and you will owe it back to your bank or credit union.
According to a survey by the Consumer Federation of America, many people mistakenly believe that banks and credit unions confirm that checks are good before posting that money to the account. That’s not how it works. Funds from deposited checks are available within days, but a counterfeit check can take weeks to detect. You’re responsible for checks you deposit because you’re in the best position to know if the person who gave it to you is trustworthy.
Believe it or not, losing thousands of dollars might not be the worst part of a fake check scam. If there isn’t enough money in your account to cover the check, you could face collection or be sued. Your account may be frozen or closed, and you could be reported to a database of checking account abusers, making it difficult to open another account. Some victims are even charged with check fraud.
Remember, there is no legitimate reason for anyone to give you a check or money order and ask you to send money somewhere in return. If that’s the deal, it’s a scam. Check out our website for more information about these scams and how to protect your hard-earned money.
Tags: check, lottery, money transfer, mystery shopper, wire transfer
This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 10th, 2010 at 2:45 pm and is filed under Banking, Scam Watch. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
This is what happened to my husband and I in 2002. The bank told us that the check was good, clear, and verified. We trusted the bank and ended up with thousands of dollars being taken from our account to cover the check.
This is what inspired us to start educating people about scams, through our website, blog, social media and a new petition asking for scam education and awareness programs.
Shawn Mosch
Co-Founder of Scam Victims United
I have gotten a check for making at home for $1996.00 well i have cashed the check well it was ALT check and the cops wanted to press charges on me if I did not pay the check back.
Fake check scams are notorious on social networking sites. Always call the bank to verify authenticity and funds.
I’ve heard of this type scam many many times and it has made me aware of the need for caution. I thank anyone and everyone who takes the time to remind me and/or heighten my awareness.
That’s all what you need to remmeber
” there is no legitimate reason for anyone to give you a check or money order and ask you to send money somewhere in return. If that’s the deal, it’s a scam. ”
Just Keep it in mind
Great stuff , Keep the good work
lol, I used to receive dozens of emails over the years with such “winning prize” stories. Either from “Uncle from Nigeria” or from “UPS returns handling department” or from “European Lottery Counsel”, to name a few… Yet I’ve never got a physical check in my mailbox! However, I would be suspicious to it the same way.
I still cannot believe there are people that accept gifts from the unknown sources (heck, even the penny stock newsletters are claimed as free, where actually they’are not). I can understand that chance to grab an easy money may change the perspective, but it should never prevent your brain from thinking deeper in order to detect scam.
I would at least call an issuer of that check, or meet their representatives in private, collect names and check their records, or whatever possible is needed to clear all doubts. The procedures provided by the bank officials are simply not enough….
Thanks for your alerting post!