Check scams

Tweet

This is a fairly new type of scam (to me) so I just wanted to give people a heads up. One of my friends was putting her house up for rent. A potential tenant contacted her from several cities away saying he wanted to move in etc. etc. They sorted everything out, the tenant seemed okay, and a little while later he mails in his deposit... Only instead of paying about like $2000, he gives her a check for $12000. Oops! After some back-and-forth, the tenant convinced my friend to deposit the check and send him $10000, also by check. So she does this, and a little while later the bank calls... saying that the $12000 check was NSF (not sufficient funds). So she tried to get back in touch with this tenant guy: nothing, his phone number is changed, his e-mail address isn't working... total mayhem. The address he gave her was a PO box so the police can't help (and since it's between national borders it's an even bigger mess) and the bank has no sympathy so now she's out like $10000 to some scumbag :( Be careful! If somebody sends you a check too big to be true and asks you to send them the difference, wait for their check to clear first! Just because you've given the check to the bank teller doesn't mean the funds have reached your account!! Anybody else have similar stories?