How does this scam work exactly?

[bobbobbins]

I had some guy call me wanting guitar lessons...and since he called like 10 times I got annoyed and didn't answer. So anyways, a few days later I got an email from the site i posted my services on, saying to watch out, because someone was calling about lessons and pulling a check scam on people...something about they write a check for more than the amount, then they say there was some kind of mistake and they're sending you a check for the right amount, and they want you to send the money back...but im not sure how it works, i was curious if anyone knows what im talking about?

[Demit]

1. You deposit his first check, but before your bank notifies you that it

bounced, the scammer sends the second check and hopes you'll send him what the first check was worth, in your (good) money--even a check from you would be good money.

His second check would bounce too, so you'd be out whatever you were suckered into sending him--not to mention your bank's bounced-check fee.

[cookies7]

couldn't you put a stop payment

on the refund check?

[Systematic Chaos]

3. Okay, that explanation makes sense.

But, as I already said, demanding cash is probably the best way to go anyway.

[bobbobbins]

5. Thats what i don't get about the scam

i wouldn't send anyone money without first knowing the check cleared...I guess some people just don't think to check first.

[skypilot]

6. This might be a dumb question but...

...wouldn't you then have the scammer's name and address if he wanted you to mail him back the original check?

[Demit]

9. I imagine he'd use a post office box. Or, if it's a group of organized

grifters, they'd have rented a space that they'd be long gone from by the time you caught up with them.

[Systematic Chaos]

2. That sounds like one hell of a complicated scam.

Just be careful with accepting any kind of check from anyone. Then again, here in Vegas very few places take them at all, compared to when I was in Minnesota and you could pay at a fast food drive-through with a check.

[Vincardog]

4. There is a similar scam on on line auctions.

The slammer 'wins' the bid. Then sends you a certified check. But the check is for more than the bid amount. The winner asks you to cash the check and give the additional amount along with the won item to a friend who will pick it up. Guess what? The check is a fake. Your bank deducts the amount of the check from your account and you are out the 'overage' amount and whatever you were auctioning ion the first place.

[sendero]

7. Similar scams on the net..

... if you sell cars on EbayMotors or other online venues.

Someone from far away will offer to buy your car. They will send a Cashier's Check for the amount owed plus a few hundred. They always have some lame reason why it is so. They want you to send them a check for the "overage".

The scam works fairly well, because these frauds have figured out how to make it take a couple weeks or more (probably through a series of banks) before the Cashier's Check is returned unpaid. By that time they've already cashed your check and they're off to the next sucker.

In ANY TRANSACTION, never go along with accepting a check over the amount with the attendant requested refund, you will get burned.

[Mabus]

8. It's a variation of the e-bay/on-line seller scams

http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/scams/carsale.asp

# No matter how sweet the deal, don't get involved in any sale where the buyer wants you to accept a check for an inflated amount and refund the overage.

# If you accept a cashier's check as payment for something you have sold, make sure it has cleared the issuing bank before you refund any money or surrender possession of the vended item. It may take two to three weeks for the banking system to determine the check is counterfeit, so even if the funds look like they're available (and even if your bank tells you they are), hold onto whatever it was you sold and the funds you received for it for three weeks.


# If you have been bilked, call the U.S. Secret Service at [phone] or write to U.S. Secret Service, Financial Crimes Division, 950 H St. N.W., Washington, DC 20223. Also, call your state attorney general's consumer protection division.