By now, most people know of the check scams that have been going around the internet, and on ebay. Basically, someone agrees to buy something from you, and they "overpay" it and you send them the balance back, then somehow their check bounces and you are out both what they paid, and what you sent them.

Now the scammers have a new version. I have my F1R procharger up for sale on a few Ford boards. I had a guy e-mail me, claiming he has a "client" interested, and wants to know my lowest price for the item. Then you respond with a price, and they mail you back saying their client agreed to pay the full price you were asking, and that any excess was their commision. Then they ask for your full name, address and phone number, and they will send you the full amount check from the "client" and you refund them the difference.

They are VERY persistant on getting all your info. Needless to say, they weren't too happy about getting a business name and address back from me and asked specifically for my name info. I e-mailed them back saying I deposit my accounts under the biz name and that's perfectly fine. Then I said "how are you supposed to issue me a check if you don't know the amount? If you reply that you are going to forward me the "client" check and ask me to send the difference back, then I know this is a scam."

I haven't gotten another reply since .

So be carefull if you have something for sale in the classifieds and get this type of e-mail.

 

LOL, just got a reply..

"Thanks once again.You will receive a check of $6000 and it will be made out to the business name that fine."

$6000? No idea where that number came from.

 

Let him send you the check and then post a pic of it somewhere and send him the link to it. Now that he knows his "check" is floating around on the internet, he might refrain from being a scammer.

 

Someone needs to do something.

I've had situations w/ complete B/S stories of how they want to pay in shady ways like that. I just used to tell them to FCK themselves.

With the internet, there is no 911 that I know of. What ways can we all report these situations?

 

$6000.00!!!!You should jump on that deal Sal!

 

Why don't people just wait the 10 business days to see if it actually clears and if it does then send the part. I don't understand why some people automatically think that just because you cash it means it was good.

6000 so the guy is making like 3000 on commission. SURE I'd take that deal If I were you.

 

Banks have a long time to bounce a check.

Banks are allowed to remove the funds from your account something like 20+ business days.

I know all the rules have recently changed, so maybe something new there.

Cashier's checks. (not money orders) it's the only way to fly =)

Coldie

 

Fake cashiers checks and bank checks are the newest twist

The reality is that you are taking a piece of paper that you beleive is worth something .... That belief should only be based on your relationship with the person who gave it to you.

Doug

 

Bottom line, if there is any kind of overpayment that you have to forward or return, it is a scam. Cashier's checks are just as bad as anything else if not worse. By law your bank can only hold a "cashier's check" for a short period of time, much less than it takes the check to clear. Most customers assume that when the bank allows you to withdraw the money the check has cleared, but with cashier's checks, that is usually not the case. The scammers know this and usually send a fake cashier's check. I am a security officer in a bank and I investgate these types of fraud everyday. I have seen over 100 bogus cashiers checks in the past two years and nearly all of them are internet sales/auction scams. Accepting checks for internet sales is extremely risky. Better alternatives would be Paypal or to have them wire the money either Western Union or directly to your bank. If you are going to receive a wire at your bank, you may want to have a special account for just receiving wires as you will need to give the account number to the person sending the wire. Also you have to be careful as we have seen customers who were expecting a wire and the scammer sent a fake check Fed Ex to the bank with instructions to deposit to the seller's account. We called the customer, but if we had deposited it and the customer checked his balance he may have assumed that he received the wire instead of a bogus check. I have seen people get scammed 1,000 different ways, but these are some of the most frustrating ones. Since most of these scams originate out of Nigeria or overseas, there is nothing US law enforcement can do. I realize I am not a Lightning owner but I hope this helps!

 

the way i avoid this BS is i have them, have there bank wire the money to my bank. it costs them a smaller amount then paypal.

win win

 

Just can't trust anyone these days.. Send me Cash...LOL

PEacE...........................
JIm

 

I dont get it Sal ?? just cash the check for 6K, then send the buyer the procharger and cash or a cashiers check for the difference in the same box. The buyers seems honest enough. It happens all the time, people always overpay when buying things.

 

The sad thing is that this "overpayment" scam must not be getting enough press out there, otherwise there wouldn't be so many scammers making money with this method. I'm starting to lose empathy for those who fall for it.

 

My bank holds all checks over $500 for 10 business days, with only a few exceptions. Any check from Ford is not held (I bank at the Ford Credit Union) and they now accept checks from Jasper with a 5 day hold as long as it's below $5,000 (which none of them are anymore so it's not doing me any good on that. On a cashiers check or a bank check, they will call to confirm funds if I ask, which only takes 1 day, but almost all my checks come from about 10 dealers and the consutling clients, I don't take checks over $500 from many retail customers. The odd Monster Box order I take myself, I have them confirm funds before the tranny is shipped. And this is a bank where I've been banking since 1978 and this year handled over $1 Million for me. At least my bank is trying to take care of me, a lot of them just let it go through and will backcharge you later. They also have a small business desk, and the guy there has offered several times to sit down with me and go ver what I can do for security.

G

 

....I always knew that you were a millionaire