Check Scams
Check scams have been making the news lately. These scams involve someone compelling someone else to deposit some checks which initially clear, but then after the money has been given to the other person, the bank notifies the depositor that the checks aren’t actually valid. This leaves the depositor owing all the money from the invalid checks that were deposited, and nine times out of ten the person who gave the checks to the depositor is long gone.
Knowing that these check scams exist is the best way to avoid getting involved with one and losing out on a bunch of money. After all, scammers involved in these things make the situation seem completely reasonable and logical, so unless you know to be on the defensive you may not realize that you’re involved in a scam until it’s too late.
It used to be that these scams involved a stranger approaching someone and explaining a problem and asking for help. Usually it went along the lines of the stranger saying, “I’m traveling through and my car has broken down. I have these cashier checks that will more than cover the cost of the repairs but I don’t have a bank account to cash them in, so if I sign them over to you, will you please deposit them into your bank account and then give me the cash? You can keep $100 for your trouble.” At this point, if you believe the story and have a desire to help, you head to your bank and deposit the checks. You figure if the checks are invalid, the teller will certainly catch on, so when the checks are deposited without problems you figure everything is fine. You give the cash to the stranger, keep the $100 for yourself, and probably feel pretty good about helping someone out.
The problem arises when your bank tries to collect the funds from the other bank. It turns out that the checks are fraudulent, or have insufficient funds, so the burden of paying the bank back the money you withdrew suddenly falls on you. Of course, the stranger with the car problems is nowhere to be found and your bank doesn’t care if you were fooled or not; you still owe the money.
With the Internet, these scams get much more complicated but are still scams nonetheless. You might be asked to collect payments on behalf of a foreign company and then wire transfer the funds overseas, keeping a portion of the payments for yourself. Other scenarios involve a plea for help from people from a foreign country who claim a coup or other unrest has forced them to flee the country and they want somewhere to stash their fortune somewhere, and you will receive a portion of the fortune for your help with the transfer of the funds.
These scams prey on people who actually have a desire to help other people, as well as people who are really looking to make some money for nothing. No matter what category you fall into, you should keep in mind that there is hardly ever a time when these requests are valid. It’s better to just assume that any time a person approaches you with a way to give you money that you haven’t earned -especially when it involves your bank account- is trying to scam you.
