potentially counterfeit travelers checks

[Jules22]

posting for a friend, he sold something on the myspace personals for 1500, the dude who claims to be representing clients in africa sends him 3000 in travelers checks with my friends name on them and tells him to cash them, and then wire the other 1500 to a third party along with the item that was sold. this to me sounds like a sure fire scam, i would like to know what your guys plays would be

edit: the checks looks legit, seem to have a watermark and look to the untrained observers (my friend and i) to be legit, but we know virtually 0 about travelers checks

[BWebb]

Scam.

[jba]

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Scam.

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[tonypaladino]

Wow, I can't beleive that people actually fall for [censored] like that.

If they're AMEX or Visa, I'd check the company website. Probably a phone number you could call to verify the check numbers on the top right (RA ###-###-###) are valid and not stolen. Alternatively, deposit them to your bank account and don't wire any money until they clear.

[jba]

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Alternatively, deposit them to your bank account and don't wire any money until they clear.

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WRONG!!!!!

it will "cleared" by your bank, and many days later it will be rejected

[Warik]

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sends him 3000 in travelers checks with my friends name on them and tells him to cash them, and then wire the other 1500 to a third party along

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Hey look! It's a red flag!

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Alternatively, deposit them to your bank account and don't wire any money until they clear.

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WRONG!!!!!

it will "cleared" by your bank, and many days later it will be rejected

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Bank's loss.

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posting for a friend, he sold something on the myspace personals for 1500, the dude who claims to be representing clients in africa sends him 3000 in travelers checks with my friends name on them and tells him to cash them, and then wire the other 1500 to a third party along with the item that was sold. this to me sounds like a sure fire scam, i would like to know what your guys plays would be

edit: the checks looks legit, seem to have a watermark and look to the untrained observers (my friend and i) to be legit, but we know virtually 0 about travelers checks

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This is called a cash-back scam, or at least a variation of. Somebody steals or forges a check, then goes to a bank to deposit it but they want half or most of the amount in cash. Checks may look legit, but they could be washed. If your friend gets involved, he gets stuck with the bag because he's the one who deposited the checks. The checks bounce or have a stop payment on them, and he just wired $1500 of his money to Africa.

Don't know what you should do with the checks or the buyer. I suppose you could take the checks to the bank for an opinion.

ScottieK

[eviljeff]

at best this is money laundering

[jba]

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Alternatively, deposit them to your bank account and don't wire any money until they clear.

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WRONG!!!!!

it will "cleared" by your bank, and many days later it will be rejected

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Bank's loss.

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you say that as if you have a clue. weird.

[Gunny Highway]

Fixed your title.

[tonypaladino]

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Alternatively, deposit them to your bank account and don't wire any money until they clear.

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WRONG!!!!!

it will "cleared" by your bank, and many days later it will be rejected

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Bank's loss.

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Why do people say things as if they are facts when they have no idea what they are talking about?

Your bank will not take the loss on a forged traveller's check, that's on you.

[ChipFish]

Why not deposit them, keep the money, and mail the item?
Include an invoice for extra handling fees of the Cheques in the amount of $3000 (marked paid).

Now stop and think for a minute...
Do you honestly think they are real?
Honestly think it won't come back to haunt you if you even attempt to deposit them?
If you do attempt to deposit them or use them, I would assume YOU would be red-flagged.

[Ulysses]

Jules,

This is pretty common to do in countries where hard currency is not easy to obtain. They want to get dollars for their travelers checks rather than crap local currency, so this is an easy way to convert them to cash. Have your friend send him the $1500, everything is cool.

SCAM

www.snopes.com (http://www.snopes.com) is your friend

http://www.snopes.com/crime/fraud/cashier.asp
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Cashier Check Scam

Scam: Sellers advertising online have been defrauded by 'buyers' who pay with cashier checks made out for amounts in excess of the agreed-upon purchase price and ask the balances be sent to third parties.

Status: Real fraud which costs its victims hundreds to thousands of dollars.

Example: [Collected on the Internet, 2003]


My husband is currently selling his motorcycle online. Last week when he posted his bike he recieved an email from a hotmail account stating he was interested in buying his bike and he is located in West Africa. He mentioned that he knows someone in the US that owes him money and would like to get our address to meet and make the exchange and that he would pay for all shipping charges. Well, a friend of ours, his cousin is also selling his bike. And he got the same email, but from a different email and name. That sounds funny to me. Well, my husband re-posted his bike yesterday online and he received from another person just about the same email about him residing in West Africa.

Origins: An interesting and highly lucrative con targeting those attempting to sell vehicles online debuted in the summer of 2002. Like the highly successful Nigerian scam, this new bit of larceny also features businessmen from Africa intent upon closing odd-sounding deals. Only in this case, it is not the pigeons' greed that traps them, it's their honesty.

The scam works like this:

* Person looking to sell a used car or motorcycle advertises the vehicle on the Internet.

* The unsuspecting seller is contacted in e-mail by a prospective buyer who hails from somewhere in Africa, usually Nigeria. This buyer agrees to the asked-for price without haggling and looks for immediate assurance the vehicle will not be sold to anyone but him. He offers to have someone pick up and ship the vehicle to Africa once the sale is complete, making it clear he alone will bear all charges associated with that aspect of the sale.

* Mention is now made of the method of payment: a cashier's check for more than the agreed-upon price for the vehicle. This check is to come from the buyer in Africa, with the residue to be sent to a third party in the USA the buyer says he owes money to. The seller is asked to cash the check, keep the right amount for the sale of his car or bike, and send what's left to this third party. (Alternatively, the check is said to be coming from the third party, with the residue after the vehicle is paid for to be sent back to the buyer.)

Example 1: Dr. Dipo Morgans of Nigeria wants to buy your used car for $5,000. His friend, Mr. Okuta, will be sending you a cashier's check for $8,000. You are to keep $5,000 for the car and send the remaining $3,000 to Dr. Morgans.

Example 2: Dr. Dipo Morgans of Nigeria wants to buy your used car for $5,000. He will be sending you a cashier's check for $8,000 on the understanding that you will forward $3,000 of it to the shipping company that will be transporting your car to Africa.

* The cashier check for the larger-than-necessary amount arrives and is duly deposited in the seller's bank account.

* Three days later, the check appears to clear, and any freeze the bank had placed on these funds is removed.

* Satisfied that the check was good (the bank had released the funds, after all), the seller wires the overage to the person it's owed to and waits for someone to come pick up the vehicle.

* No one ever comes to pick up the vehicle.

* Two weeks later, the seller is informed by his bank the check was a forgery.

* The seller is now out the amount he wired to someone else.

In some versions of the scam, the buyer is not an individual but rather an agent for a firm that purchases cars on behalf of others, often diplomats stationed in foreign lands. This car broker is usually located in Africa.

The "reason" for the inflated-value check will vary from one attempt to defraud to another. Currency exchange problems will be cited. Or a horrified buyer will realize he's had the check prepared for far too large an amount. Or the check is being sent by a third party for the full amount this other person supposedly owes the buyer. Or it's a refund check for a failed sale for something that would have cost more. Or it would take 30 days to clear a check from Africa, hence the need to have an American third party send the payment. The reasons are many. And varied. And false.

Cars or motorcycles aren't the only items to attract this form of scam — those attempting to sell horses have experienced it too. It's not unreasonable to extrapolate those attempting to sell boats will be similarly targeted. What matters is not the nature of the item being offered for sale but its price — it has to be high enough to justify the seller's feeling comfortable in sending thousands of his own dollars to a stranger under the mistaken belief he's already holding an even greater sum in his hand.

In another form of the scam, those advertising online for roommates are contacted by prospective apartment-sharers who want to send cashier checks to cover the first few months rent plus a few thousand extra and who require the extra be mailed back to them. Though nothing is being offered for sale, it's the same scheme — the check will turn out to be worthless, but usually only long after the roommate-hunter has mailed his own very good check to the con artist.

The scam works because the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) requires banks to make money from cashier's, certified, or teller's checks available in one to five days. Consequently, funds from checks that might not be good are often released into payees' accounts long before the checks have been honored by their issuing banks. High quality forgeries can be bounced back and forth between banks for weeks before anyone catches on to their being worthless, by which time victims have long since wired the "overpayments" to the con artists who have just taken them for a ride.

Although this scam is in its infancy, real people have already been bilked out of thousands of dollars by it — in some cases tens of thousands. The con has claimed victims in communities across the USA, so don't let your not having heard about it before lull you into a false sense of security. That the game is new doesn't mean it's not dangerous.

Barbara "cheque and cheque again" Mikkelson

How To Avoid Falling Victim To Cashier Check Scams:

* No matter how sweet the deal, don't get involved in any sale where the buyer wants you to accept a check for an inflated amount and refund the overage.


* If you accept a cashier's check as payment for something you have sold or rented, make sure it has cleared the issuing bank before you refund any money or surrender possession of the vended item. It may take two to three weeks for the banking system to determine the check is counterfeit, so even if the funds look like they're available (and even if your bank tells you they are), hold onto whatever it was you sold and the funds you received for it for three weeks.


* If you have been bilked, call the U.S. Secret Service at (202) 406-5572 or write to U.S. Secret Service, Financial Crimes Division, 950 H St. N.W., Washington, DC 20223. Also, call your state attorney general's consumer protection division.

Additional information:

FBI on cashier check scam Intelligence Note
(Internet Fraud Complaint Center of the FBI)

Last updated: 4 July 2005

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[DrSavage]

It has to be El Diablo trying to freeroll his way into HU championship.

[Ulysses]

acme,

you are dense.

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acme,

you are dense.

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WTF are you talking about. It's a known scam. You sir poopoohead!

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* Satisfied that the check was good (the bank had released the funds, after all), the seller wires the overage to the person it's owed to

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I'll save anyone else the trouble: I have been PWNED! Off to a rathole to die, now.

[Jules22]

they are not cashiers checks, they are travelers checks.... there is a difference right?

[Ulysses]

acme,

It is not a scam. I have done this 15-20 times when selling stuff on ebay. Most of these guys let me keep an extra $100-200 for doing them this service. Getting US dollars is worth a lot to them. I'm sure, just like anything else, there are some bad apples, but 99% of the time this is totally legit and win-win for everyone.

[jba]

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* Satisfied that the check was good (the bank had released the funds, after all), the seller wires the overage to the person it's owed to

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I'll save anyone else the trouble: I have been PWNED! Off to a rathole to die, now.

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haha, nice work bro, I'm impressed

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acme,

It is not a scam. I have done this 15-20 times when selling stuff on ebay. Most of these guys let me keep an extra $100-200 for doing them this service. Getting US dollars is worth a lot to them. I'm sure, just like anything else, there are some bad apples, but 99% of the time this is totally legit and win-win for everyone.

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Ahhh sorry. Didn't mean to interfere...

http://www.starfish.govt.nz/shared-graphics-for-download/trolling.jpg

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* Satisfied that the check was good (the bank had released the funds, after all), the seller wires the overage to the person it's owed to

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I'll save anyone else the trouble: I have been PWNED! Off to a rathole to die, now.

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haha, nice work bro, I'm impressed

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Thanks. It'd be really sad if I actually used to work for a bank.... (insert nervous Peter Griffin "hehhehhehheh" laugh)

When I dream about people like you and your friend, I wake up covered in my own seed.

[zephed]

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Alternatively, deposit them to your bank account and don't wire any money until they clear.

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WRONG!!!!!

it will "cleared" by your bank, and many days later it will be rejected

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Bank's loss.

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new account BeerMoney?

[Jules22]

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When I dream about people like you and your friend, I wake up covered in my own seed.

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this is totally stupid. sounds like you dream about dudes and wake up with semen all over your boyfriends back, you creepy gimmick account

[pokerclack]

This is a scam as said by everone else. You should go to www.419eater.com (http://www.419eater.com) and check it out they bait scam artists for fun and get funny pictures of them. have fun

[Jules22]

twas a scam, for those curious. counterfeit checks

[tonypaladino]

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When I dream about people like you and your friend, I wake up covered in my own seed.

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Hahah. POTD

[HitHard69]

I was selling a car on AutoTrader...guy emails me, wants to buy my car, asks some questions, we e-mail back and forth, etc. Then he wants to send me a Cashiers check for $15000 for a $7000 car, and send him back the rest. Being young and dumb I say "OK" and dude sends me check from First National Bank on Fla. I go to that banks website (wanted to see if it's legit) and right away I see a thing about counterfeit cashiers checks from their bank. I took it to my bank and they looked at it and said it looked real and had everything they check for when looking for counterfeits. National Bank of Fla says call the FBI if you have a counterfeit check. So I call the FBI. FBI says call the Secret Service, they handle treasury. Secret Service says under $50,000 they dont care, call local PD. Local PD says Africa isn't in their jurisdiction. So I got a $15,000 cashiers check laying around. Tryin to figure out a way to cash it and not get screwed.

[tonypaladino]

Try to sell it to some drunk in a casino for $1,000