Scammers need a good story to get to your wallet. Once they find one that works, they use it again and again. One of their old favorites brings together fake checks and secret shopping, and we’ve been hearing a lot about it lately.
Here’s how it starts. You get a check in the mail with a job offer as a secret shopper. You deposit the check and see the funds in your account a few days later, and the bank even tells you the check has cleared.
Now you’re off to the store you’ve been asked to shop at and report back on, often a Walmart. Your first assignment is to test the in-store money transfer service, like Western Union or MoneyGram, by sending some of the money you deposited. Or you might be told to use the money to buy reloadable cards or gift cards, such as iTunes cards. You’re instructed to send pictures of the cards or to give the numbers on the cards.
Fast forward days or weeks to the unhappy ending. The bank finds out the check you deposited is a fake, which means you’re on the hook for all that money. How does that even happen? Well, banks must make funds from deposited checks available within days, but uncovering a fake check can take weeks. By the time you try to get the money back from the money transfer service, the scammers are long gone, and they’ve taken all the money off the gift cards, too. (By the way, money orders and cashier’s checks can be faked, too.)
The moral of the story? If anyone ever asks you to deposit a check and then wire or send money in any way, you can bet it’s a scam. No matter what they tell you.
Want to avoid the latest rip-offs? Sign up for free scam alerts from the FTC at FTC.gov/Scams.
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In reply to i just got scammed doing this by Angel
In reply to Just had the same scam by Nobody's Fool
You can help law enforcement by reporting your experience to the FTC at FTC.gov/Complaint. The information you give will go into a secure database that law enforcement uses for investigations.
The comments you put here on the blog don’t go into the law enforcement database.
In reply to Free cell phone use medicaid by Ha Tran
In reply to The scammers have become by ctom0628
In reply to The scammers have become by ctom0628
In reply to The scammers have become by ctom0628
In reply to Omg I think I'm being scammed by EsmevDon't use…
In reply to Got a call saying they were by Smart Girl
In reply to I’m in the middle off a scam by DC0416
In reply to I was just sent a check from by Carmacatt
In reply to Brob55 Got a check for 3100 by brob55
You can help law enforcement and report this to the FTC at FTC.gov/Complaint. The information you give will go into a secure database that law enforcement uses for investigations. You can't send the paper check, but if you received the the instructions in an email, you could copy the email and add it to the complaint you file online with the FTC.
The comments you put here on the blog don’t go into the law enforcement database.
In reply to Brob55 Got a check for 3100 by brob55
In reply to Always make a copy of the by Northwest3
Pagination