scammers has anyone ever been sent a fraudulent check?
By barbiegirl13
@barbiegirl13 (1588)
United States
September 19, 2007 3:42pm CST
Has anyone tried to sell something online like puppies on the free classified adds and in retun you recieve an email from someone who wants to send you a check for 3000. I recieved an email from a man who wanted to send me a check for double the amount of the price of the dog I was selling. I recieved a check from london and I took it to the bank. They ran the check and said it was real. They wanted me to cash it but i said I would take it back and get more information about it.I emailed this man and he told me to go ahead and cash it and keep 1500 and send the other 1500 back to the UK with the address hehad provided. I was alarmed and emailed back telling him that I was going to contact the law. He never emailed me again so I new that the check was fraudulent.
How would the bank not know this? And what would have happened to me if I would have cashed it?
5 responses
@lingli_78 (12822)
• Australia
20 Sep 07
fortunately, i never experience it... and i hope i will never experience it... i work as a cashier though and i am being taught of how to differentiate between a real cheque and a fraudelent one... so i might be able to tell if i get a fraudulent cheque straight away... :-)
@Bunsdk (242)
• Denmark
20 Sep 07
Never heard of this before, but surely will pay attention to things like that in the future.
But on the other hand, I would never ever recieve or cash a check for someone else.
Not even if it spelled an income for me in the end.
If he cant cash it himself there is a reason why, and thats usually a reason not to "help" them.
@barbiegirl13 (1588)
• United States
20 Sep 07
I have found that I recieve them because I use free classifieds.
@sedel1027 (17846)
• Cupertino, California
19 Sep 07
They would not have cashed the check immediately, you would have put it in the bank, filled out a form, then - if it was real - you would get the money after the bank verified all of the information.
If you would have cashed the check and it had cleared your account, then found to be fraudulent (banks wouldn't just cash it) you would be liable for the $3K + bank fees.
@barbiegirl13 (1588)
• United States
19 Sep 07
wow, thanks for the info. They said that could put it into my account and once it cleard the would contact me. I am sure glad I didn''t do it!
@bonbon664 (3466)
• Canada
20 Sep 07
It's another clever scam designed to cheat you out of your money. People have to think twice getting this type of offer. Who in their right mind would send a stranger twice the money they're entitled to? Nobody, that's who. If something seems odd, stay away.
@marylouu69 (297)
• United States
20 Sep 07
I have a couple of friends this happened to, and they cashed the check, and before they knew it the bank froze their account, and made them pay the money back. They also had police at their house investigating the check. They still had the letters that came with the check, so they didn't get into any trouble, but they still had to repay the money.
