Scammers may use a fake check to
steal your money. This may be part of a phony prize award, fake job offer,
mystery shopper scam or bogus online classified ad sale. The scammer sends you
a check that might over pay an agreed-on price or salary/wage then instructs
you to keep the amount that was agreed to, and send back the rest via Western
Union, MoneyGram or prepaid debit cards or iTunes gift cards. The Better Business
Bureau lists the fake check scam as the number 2 scam in its Scam Tracker
survey.
The key to this scam is that the
check is no good. But, it can take time, a few days or even a few weeks, for
your bank to figure that out. And when they do, they take the money out that
they originally credited to your account and may charge you a fee. So why didn’t
they wait to credit your account until they were certain the check was good? By
federal law they need to make the funds available in a short time, often before
they know if the check is good.
Be leery of any scheme that has
you sending funds back from a check no matter the reason.
Federal Trade Commission:
NBC News:
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