Seller Beware: Check Fraud Scams

If you’re selling something in a newspaper classified ad or online, beware of a prevalent fake check scam that some banking customers have witnessed firsthand when selling items ranging from puppies to motorcycles.

It usually starts when someone:

• Offers to buy something you’ve advertised for sale,

• Offers to pay you with a check or money order that’s written for more money than the cost of the item you’re selling, and
• Asks you to wire the difference to the scammer or someone else.
  

Bank employees have seen a number of variations on this scheme, including a scammer offering to:

• Pay you to work from home;
• Give you an “advance” on a sweepstakes you’ve won; or
• Give you the first installment on the fortune you’ll receive for transferring money from a foreign country to your bank account.

Regardless of the set-up, the result is the same. An unsuspecting consumer is out a large sum of money when the check, money order, or cashiers check proves to be a fake.

The best defense against such scams is the knowledge that there is no legitimate reason for someone who is giving you money to ask you to wire money back.  If someone wants to pay you for something, insist upon a cashiers check for the exact amount, preferably from a bank with a branch in your area.

The Alliance for Consumer Fraud Awareness (ACFA), a private-public initiative spearheaded by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, has supported the creation of a new National Consumers League (NCL) Web site, www.fakechecks.org, which consumers can visit to educate themselves on the scams and learn why, if the offer looks too good to be true, it probably is.