Reader Sean got a package with a (presumably fake) check for $4,500. Someone from Craigslist wants him to cash the check and for his trouble, he gets to keep 10%!
I just received a strange UPS package this morning, a check for $4,500
It’s obviously a scam but I was wondering if I could get some expert advice on how to handle the situation in the best and most entertaining way possible.
I believe this got started when I posted a “roommate needed” ad on Craigslist. One girl replied right away, saying that she was coming here from another country. She also mentioned that she was having many things shipped to her here… like a BWM?!?!?
I had already given here the address and she said that her Dad was sending a money order. I had nothing bad bad feelings about the whole thing so I told her the place was already taken. A couple of days ago she emailed saying that she needed my help. She needed me to cash the check that her Dad had already sent and that I could keep 10% of it as a transaction fee.
So I’m guessing that the Craigslist ad is how these people got my address.
Should I just not respond? String them along?
Thanks in advance,
Sean
There’s really no point in stringing them along — unless you’re secretly Batman or something. You’re not, right? Anyway, one option is to collect all the information you can about these folks — emails they’ve sent, the package, all that stuff, and file a police report. It may sound pointless, but Reader Chris managed to get his Craigslist scammer arrested by filing a police report. For all you know, these people have been trying this all over town and you may have the missing puzzle piece. Or they could be in Nigeria.
You can also contact your local FBI field office and ask them if they’re interested in seeing the check. If you’d fallen for the scam, we’d advise that you report it to the FBI’s internet crime complaint center. Thankfully, you didn’t!
Sean sends an update:
The scammer contacted me again and asked if I got the check. She wants me to cash it and send the money to a person in Oklahoma who she says is a car dealer at a place where she wants to buy a car. Also that I need to send the money through Western Union. For clarification, the check was sent from a Florida address and has contact name, address and phone number.
I called the JP Morgan Chase Bank to tell them that I have a lot of contact information from someone who made an obvious forgery of their check. Chase basically said “yes, we’re aware of the problem”. I asked if they wanted any of the information, like the name and address in Florida that it was sent from. The name & address of who it’s supposed to go to? They said, not really.
I called the local FBI and they said they get lots of this and had me go to IC3.gov to report the information. I filed the report but I’m not counting on getting any response.
Well, Sean, you did everything that you could do.
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If you want to do the right thing, you can simple report this person to the US Postal Police and the precinct nearby. On the other hands… Entertainment wise.. Contact the person and demand a check with a larger amount lol. Say you are too lazy to leave your house for only 10% which is like $450! Send in the millions buddy!
Well, there’s always [thescambaiter.com]
I had a friend who got a check from a scammer and decided to mess with him. She kept a blog of it at [anatomyofascam.blogspot.com]
Take the consumerist advice and just trash the check. And for crying out loud, why would you post your actual address on craiglist?
A friend of mine sold something on ebay and received a money order from King tutu’s assistant in Nigeria.
His girlfriend thought it would be fun to take it to a check cashing place to see what would happen if they tried cashing it.
He was waiting and about 10 minutes later a cop showed up and put him in handcuffs and placed him in the back of the cop car.
A detective over the phone went on ebay to search for the listing and since it was expired saw nothing. He told them he could log into his account to show them the listing and they said no.
After an hour they let him go, only to have a public defendant leave him a message a month later saying they might be pressing charges on him (don’t know who “They” are) and he has never been contacted since.
@Gann: Just like the Denny’s commercial. That’s not real money. That’s not a real breakfast…
But you should soak the monopoly money in something unpleasant first.
@rabiddachshund: Damn you, that was my first thought.
People. Do not bother the police or the Feds. They will not investigate. The scammer is not in the US. They have no jurisdiction. There is nothing they can do. Just put put the check in the confetti maker and forget about it. I bait these scammers. In the last few years, I have gotten more than 1.5 million bucks in fake checks, money orders, and other crap.
Yes, it’s tempting to mess with the guy…but he knows your address. I’d give it up to the feds.
It’s one thing if it’s an e-mail; it’s another when a scammer shows up at your doorstep.
whatever you do, DON’T deposit the check thinking if Bank clears it (somehow) you can scam them instead… even if bank is aware of possible fraud, even if bank clears the check, and even if a month went by without any issues; the bank will come back asking you to cover the obviously fake check and there is nothing you can do about it.
@testsicles: I assumed you were being a bit sardonic, I just wanted to point out that possession really isn’t 9/10 of the law.
@dmolavi: BWM — Bisexual white male, just like in the personals…so I hear. Every apartment should have one.
My boyfriend had someone approach him like this when he wanted a subletter.
The person used a slightly different angle, he was from Uasdkl;fjasl;jkxcvxcasdfia and oh no! he has made a terrible mistake and sent too much money for rent in a check!!! Would mr.TP please be so kind as to send him back the excess!!
There was a warning about it on my university’s housing page and I pointed him in that direction and my boyfriend just sent an email with lyrics to a drinking song.
I had a bit of experience with this when someone started using my company’s information on checks for exactly this purpose. I don’t know how many people got scammed, but a number of them called us to ask if the check was legit. I collected a lot of information, but it didn’t do much good as the scammer was in the UK somewhere. Various authorities I talked to eventually ended up referring me to the local police, who of course couldn’t really do anything.
One woman who called said she was calling to check because she’d already been burned three times by the same scam. Ouch.
I say you toy with them since they know your address, and then set up a bunch of booby traps a la Home Alone and let the hilarity ensue.
I consider myself pretty smart, but I never had experience with scammers (I don’t get a lot of spam, don’t use eBay, and didn’t use Craigslist until recently). So when I thought I found a roommate, nothing tripped my scam alert until the very end. Fortunately, it was very easy to confirm that it was a scam, since the fraud check had the phone number of the victim on it. Sure, I didn’t lose money per se, but that lead to time wasted where I’m paying the full sum on a 2-bedroom.
I thought, hey, couldn’t the police set up a flagged western union account and see who goes for it? I took the check and envelope to the police and they said that’s one thing they do. Mostly they said that prosecuting between state lines is difficult, assuming they’re even in the US. My BS alarm is a bit better though, so I know that meant that they weren’t going to bother pursuing it.
BWMs? The economy HAS tanked if people are trading in Bi White Males these days.
Try http://www.419eater.com/. They just play tricks on scammers to get them to waste time, send pics of themselves with bizarre signs or even get the scammers to send them real money! It’s hilarious. You’ll get lots of ideas there.
@MrGrimes: Exhibit A of the likelihood that advice from anyone using a Simpsons graphic for an avatar won’t have anything useful to contribute to the thread.
They have his address and some of his personal information now, he should be very cautious that they a) Don’t pay him a visit and b) Use his information for scams. He shouldn’t of strung them along for his own enjoyment, he might have to pay for that now.
Another good site is [www.scamorama.com]
BWM – Boyfriend With Machete??
The scam is extremely common, and too much trouble to investigate, especially when there has been no monetary loss. Therefore just shred the check and ignore the scammer is my suggestion. The scammer sends out dozens or hundreds of these things, they are used to being let down and if you pay them no further mind they will do the same.
Neither posessing or destroying a fake check is a crime. But why do either, when you can have fun with the FBI! Next time I’m bored, I hope someone sends me a fake check, so I can watch an entertaining federal investigation unfold.
also ebolamonkeyman.com is a good scam bater site…
Tell ‘em to go fark themselves?
@heypal: @Jeneni: +1.
If you hadn’t put your address on there, I would totally go for scamming them. The sites you mention are pretty hilarious.
Cheers!
Bear in mind what happened to the guy in San Francisco who took a fraudulent check to Bank of America, where he had an account, and asked them pretty much what you’re asking: the check is probably fraudulent; what should I do?
The friendly customer-service folks at B of A simply called the police and had him arrested, and pressed charges.
The whole ghastly story is here: [clarkhoward.com] and probably lots of other places. B of A was particularly idiotic about it, but that doesn’t mean that your bank won’t be sniffing out of the same glue-pot.
So what DOES one do if they suspect they’ve been given a fake check or money order? My Dad uses eBay a lot and often pays for his stuff (mostly fishing tackle and the like, rarely over $10 including shipping) with a money order from his bank. I’m considering putting some stuff up for sale and would like to accept money orders as a means of payment, (in addition to the regular PayPal route,) but is there any way to ask a bank to check the authenticity of a money order without getting in trouble myself?
I always tell the scammers that my name is such-and-such and give an address, Attention: myname, blah blah blah.
Rarely if ever do they realize they’ve sent their bogus money orders to the head of the Phoenix FBI’s fraud department.
It’s times like this that I ask myself, “Self, What would Chris Hansen do”?
If you cash a bad check you’re guilty of fraud whether you knew the check was bad or not. People tend not to report these scams because the financial institution has you for fraud, not any other person whose name might be on the check. They might have defrauded you, but you defrauded the financial institution. That’s the law whether you like it or not.
this has been going on for quite sometime. The FBI doesnt care as it cant be traced and UPS doesnt care. The scammers are smart in that they dont use USPS as it becomes a federal offense and postal inspectors actually do something about stuff like this.
Get them to keep sending you packages, make ‘em waste money on postage.
You should haggle with them, tell them you want 11.5%.
@That-Dude:
I was being simplistic. You are correct it is not a strict liability crime. However, the police do not need to show intent in order to arrest you. I have defended many clients who are accused of possession of a forged instrument for having fake registration stickers on the car they were driving. In reality they borrowed the car from their cousin or brother etc and had no clue that the registration was forged. Nevertheless, they are arrested and charged based on the mere possession of the registration.
I wouldn’t argue that this guy would be convicted but he would be opening himself up to being arrested should the circumstances arise that he is found with the check.
sean —>
don’t waste your time. be thankful that you didn’t fall victim & shred everything. i’ve dealt with A LOT of these instruments (even forged government payment instruments) & quite frankly, no one seems to care. it’s great that you contacted the bank it’s drawn on – sometimes they don’t know, so congratulations! you get a junior ID sheriff badge!
in terms of law enforcement? they don’t care, there’s nothing they can do about it, & even if they could, they’re not going to do a damn thing to tackle what is obviously a widespread criminal scam that costs americans billions of dollars per year.
thanks for watching our backs, guys! what do those letters stand for? fat, bald & incompetent?
@dmolavi:
Nope, you can find them in NCY though!
Personally, I’d like to see these dirtbag scammers grow the stones and come start something with someone in Texas. In this state you can shoot a burglar dead and not have to worry about getting sued or going to jail.
They give you a fake check, the bank gives a temp balance (but not AVAILABLE) so you think the check is legit, you forward on 90% of the check value and then the bank cancels your check leaving you in crap. And 90% of a fake check less is now in your account.
Thats how the scams work, they trick you to send your money along instead of theirs.
I would just shred it and break contact with the scammer. Don’t be a snitch. Seriously, why snitch if there was no harm done. Don’t throw a fellow human into an inhumane system. If anyone else gets scammed on down the line, they deserve it for being greedy and/or stupid/gullible.
Back in college, I went to the bank and cashed a $100 check, getting five twenties. I realized after I left that they had given me one counterfeit $20 bill. I was flabbergasted and returned to the bank demanding a replacement $20. They said no, as I couldn’t prove I’d received it from them and could be trying to pass one off on them.
What could I do? I contemplated keeping it as a souvenir, but as an impoverished college student, throwing away $20 was just not a possibility. I took it out and passed it at a busy bar on a Saturday night.
Am I proud? No. Do I still feel a bit ethically shady about it? Sure, but I ended up getting my $20 back and not getting screwed by my bank. That’s gotta count for something.
@Neecy: As far as selling on eBay goes, make it VERY clear that you will only: sell/ship to the US; sell/ship to a CONFIRMED PayPal address; that you accept ONLY PayPal or USPS Money Orders for payment (because these are the most secure forms of payment); that you will immediately return any other form of payment to sender.
Letting potential buyers know that you are NOT a scammer also lets potential scammers know that you won’t be an easy mark
The Federal Mail Fraud statute (18 USC 1341) was modified in 1994 to include items sent by common carrier such as FedEx, DHL and UPS as well as the Postal Service. So you certainly can notify the Postal Inspectors even if the check was sent by UPS.
The actual change is: “Pub. L. 103-322, Sec. 250006, inserted “or deposits or causes to be deposited any matter or thing whatever to be sent or delivered by any private or commercial interstate carrier,” after “Postal Service,” and “or such carrier” after “causes to be delivered by mail”.
@basilwhite, where do you live that fraud is a strict-liability crime? By the way, fraud statutes vary by state.
@humphrmi: Out here in the red states, we refer to violent scammers who know our home address as “reaction targets”.
Never accept a check from anyone. Not even your friends. Take Paypal, credit cards or cash only. Trust no one!
@jcoltrane: Ha! I once took out a whole whopping 10 dollars from an ATM, it was the day before Christmas Eve and I was soooo broke, and was taking my sad 10 dollars to try and get some presents… But the bill ripped in half as I pulled it from the machine. I went in and asked if they could replace the bill. The teller took the bill, and walked away for a moment, when she came back she told me it was fake. They confiscated it, didn’t give me my 10 bucks at all. They said there was no way I could prove I got it from their machine. I said what about the cameras, they said I could have used the machine and then switched a real bill for a fake before coming it to have it replaced.
I was mostly insulted that they thought I was stupid enough to do something like that… yeah, I’m gonna go to a BANK to trade in a fake TEN DOLLAR bill, on the day before Xmas eve, when I could have gone to any retailer and had no problem using a ripped 10 to buy a 25 cent pack of gum and gotten $9.75 of bona fide cash back.
Isn’t this what fake ID’s, growing hilarious beards, and check-cashing places are for?
All seems legit to me…
@Don Roberto: you’re an ass.
@jcoltrane: that’s what sucks about counterfeit money. whoever reports it gets stuck footing the bill. not really fair.
& btw – banks/retailers know this & don’t like to “get stuck”. just a pba there, so always check your money before you leave a store.