More on job offer-check cashing scam

Of all the scams I write about on this blog, the check cashing scam still gets the most mail since I posted about it in October, 06.

From the mail, it seems people still need the most help figuring out what to do after they've realized too late and deposited the check.

Today, someone representing themselves as a female Yahoo user wrote:

i think i am a victim of one of those website frauds. Unfortunately i didnt do my homework till late- this company Actexo Textile- sent me over$3,900.00 - they told me to keep 10% and western union the rest. However, my bank put a hold on the check (about 3days) however i was not able to get the funds in cash. i later investigated the company's name and ran across the words "scam" now i am left holding this money that i dont want to get in trouble for. PLEASE HELP ME- TELL ME WHAT I NEED TO DO NOW!!

So here is my advice to her, and anybody caught in this predicament:

First, take slow deep breaths, hold the air deep in your lungs, count to ten, let it out slowly. Keep this up until you feel calm enough to comprehend the rest of what you are going to read.

If you truly did not suspect you were cashing fraudulent checks, then you are safe from criminal prosecution.

If you have already spent the money, you will have to pay it back to the bank. If you have not, that’s good because you won’t owe the bank money when they realize the check is fake.

The next thing to happen is the scammers will contact you asking why haven’t you sent us the money? Keep copies of all communications, including their date and time stamps (easiest to set up a special mail folder).

At this point, you can ignore them, or tell them you know it’s fraud hang up. They will try to convince you they are not fraud, oh so very wrong you are, bla bla. Lies all lies.

Save and file these communications over phone, email, even your IM sessions. Cops can use those to track the bad guys, should you be so adventurous. Of course, you'd need to find a local cop with a clue to track these people from the calls and e-mails. Your best bet is the local branch of the Secret Service, in my book the most experienced with private sector financial crimes committed electronically.

Don't worry about these con artists coming after you. They're Internet thugs; spineless weenies who like to terrorize with their computers where they don't have to face their victims in real life.

As for the check ... If you stall them, the check will hang in limbo until they realize you’re not going to cash it. Or it may pass through and the bank will eventually tag it as fraud.

Either way, you are safe if you have not spent the check or sent the money to the bad guys. If you have, the bank will not give you a break, even though, as I've said before, there's a huge flaw in the banking verification system that the criminals take advantage of to make this happen. Sigh.

Even still, do report the check to your bank’s fraud department as soon as possible. It’s the nice thing to do.

Comments

[Meena]

Hi everyone,

Friends this is Meena. I visited this website. This website providing a good info about
any kind of business information.I opened the email Because I review a lot of different money making schemes, I felt the obligation to follow through. In the end they sent me an actual check from CitiBank with my name on it. I was absolutely amazed.

[walter richters]

My name is Walter Richters. I was scammed in a travelers check scheme. I was
supposed to have a roomate named Sandra Smith move in with me from England.
For her expenses she sent 5000 in travelers checks for me to cash and wire
to her accountant. I did this. I figured all was well because the bank would
be able to identify the numbers on the travelers checks in their data base
they were entering them into and then tell me if there was something wrong.
They did not. (Wells Fargo) instead cashed the checks, and I went and
western unioned the funds to her "accountant" in TN. But then Sandra Smith
(Or whoever it really is) asked me to cash 9000. I really became concerned.
The first thing I did was call a local Phoenix Police helpline. The officer
there told me that as I thought I was actually sending funds for a roomate
and did not knowingly cash checks for a criminal, that I had as yet not
commited any crime. That defused me. But then after posting a caution on
Craigslist for others not to fall for my mistake someone sent me a link
stating that most commonly these travelers checks are counterfeit and that
bank is incapable of telling the difference and it cashes them, then weeks
later the bank comes after you. I thought, why is the bank not better able
to identify false travelers checks before blindly cashing them. Now I am in
trouble for cashing 5000 dollars worth of fake travelers checks. I haven't
been told they were fake yet, but I just know I will. It's 424 am and I
can't sleep. I'm wondering, how will this interupt my life? Will I go to
jail for christs sake? Will I lose my job and apartment. I'm just an
ordinary law abiding joe who now suddenly wonders what will happen to me
now. So I am asking you, what is my best course of action to avoid prosecution?

Walter Richters
PHX AZ

[ian]

i recently bought jewlery from a cheap tiffany website i have not recieved it for weeks and they dont have a contact number and wont reply to my emails. i spent about 2oo pounds and i dont know what to do?

[Nick F.]

Friends; use your head--if it sounds too good to be true, it is not true!

Granted, I am an attorney by profession and better equipped to deal with such matters. However, I received one of these emails about offer of employment in "cashing checks and keeping 10% commission"--etc...IMMEDIATELY I asked myself:
1) Why would this be a legitimate job? I mean at best it sounds like money laundering--even if you did get to keep 10% and the check was not fake.

2)Where is the "Product" and "productivity"? There is none!! Think about it; as I said, if these checks were not fake, then you would be probably working for some criminal laundering crime begotten money--SO...it could be only two sorts of activity: 1-Fraud/Scam, 2-Crime (money laundering). Neither one is a good choice. Is it?

I next did a google search to see where is the catch--and I landed on this site and realized how the scam exactly works. It took me all of two minutes to uncover this one!!

To spell out the obvious, the bad guys send you a check. It looks just fine. You deposit it, you keep some of it under various pretext they feed you, and you wire the rest of the cash to the bad guys! They get cash from Western Union, your bank eventually comes after you for passing a really bad check!! I tell you, this is the worst one I have come across since the original "Nigerian Letter" scam started in the 90s...and people still fall for that one!!

Beware...unlike the line in the movie "Wall Street", greed is not good. Only the very very rich get to make easy money and even they pay the price sooner or later. Common folks gotta work hard for the money. If it looks, sounds and walks like a freakin' Duck; it is NOT a Golden Goose!

[Razzak]

hi there,
I just almost got ripped. I have the check in my account and even withdrew some of it to see if it is actually working. And was on my way to Western Union with the cash when an angelic voice from heaven told me i am doing the wrong thing n i came back thinking i shall do it tomorrow n meanwhile decided to see if i find something on the internet which might seem helpful. And i landed here and various other sites about the real truth of this "job offers" now instead of WU, i m going to the police and the bank,, first thing tomorrow..
I was so close to losing a hefty sum..but i guess if others are not aware of it.. they might not be as lucky... these things are mere frauds.. not even worth lookin even once... just forget the greed.. that makes u blind... clean money as a law abiding citizen is much better than much money as a proved criminal...think about it n never fall for such unfortnate events...
best regards,
a victim

[Razzak]

hi there,
I just almost got ripped. I have the check in my account and even withdrew some of it to see if it is actually working. And was on my way to Western Union with the cash when an angelic voice from heaven told me i am doing the wrong thing n i came back thinking i shall do it tomorrow n meanwhile decided to see if i find something on the internet which might seem helpful. And i landed here and various other sites about the real truth of this "job offers" now instead of WU, i m going to the police and the bank,, first thing tomorrow..
I was so close to losing a hefty sum..but i guess if others are not aware of it.. they might not be as lucky... these things are mere frauds.. not even worth lookin even once... just forget the greed.. that makes u blind... clean money as a law abiding citizen is much better than much money as a proved criminal...think about it n never fall for such unfortnate events...
best regards,
a victim

[xxtrukr]

Answered one of those Part time Job e-mails. Asked for details. Understand, I am not averse to making money; I've handled hundreds of thousands of dollars for other people safely for years; so 10% for doing something simple didn't sound too bad; could be better but not too bad.
Received e-mail sending travelers checks w/instructions to send cashed money via/WU to 2 addresses in Gahana.???? Two problems: 1. Travelers checks 2. send cash to Gahana? A nation w/ a long history of problems????Today received $3,000 via UPS in Travelers checks and another e-mail that more is on the way via UPS due tomorrow. Travelers checks I received via UPS say VISA not VISA CITIBANK
There is a difference, and like cash, on the real travelers checks there is an almost invisible watermark inside the oval on the back side of the check, visible only by holding up to the light, just like the security stripe on the larger denomination US dollar bills. Basically,what I have in my hand is $3000 in play money (travelers checks) someone spent @ $14 to UPS to me that's not even worth the paper it's printed on. Cute!!
Sweet Dreams!
xxtrukr

[David]

well well well,
Seems as thou i was that unfortunate fool who tried to help someone on the side. I deposited the check into my account a day or two ago, and my bank as a courtesy makes 500 dollars available after one business day as the rest of the cash awaits to be cleared. Now my account has been frozen. Thank god i did not spend or withdraw any cash. My next step tomorrow will be the bank and then maybe the police if necessary. I do hope i will not have any serious recurrance from this. PLease let me know, am i a victim, should i feel like one. because i do. please all who read this beware. Easy money is no better than play money. how could you possibly appreciat it?
best,
victim.

[laraine]

I GOT SCAMED!hi, my name is laraine.
well i just became a single parent, an i needed a roomate to help me with all the bills. so i went to roomate.com an posted me as an add.well the first day i posted it a person comes up to be named SANDRA an she said " i am extremely intrested in your home please contact me back , have a blessed day sandra" i was thrilled that someone already was intrested in my home.
so she i guess was being nice for the first couple of e-mails.( she said she is a fashion designer an was visiting Nigeria) well anyways, she sent over a cashieres check worth of 5000 dollars! an said that she needed 2000 in cash of in it for a plane ticket, i sent it.but first before i did that i got the check approved by the az fedaral bank,so i got all the cash.anyways...then she asked for alot of other reasons for me to send money out there. AN THIS IS WHAT GOT ME TO CATCH ON TO THE SCAM!, well she asked for me to send money to the immagration dept. an i wanted to know what that was. so i looked up immagration dept in Nigeria. an all these scams started to come up, its like god wanted me to know that before i did anything else.then i started to not send any money because the immagration dept isnt really a good thing to me.so i started to email her trying to make sure she thought that she thought i was still being dumb! after about 3 days she didnt talk then i talked to some friends, an gthey told me that that this is common an now the bank is going to charge me 4000 dollars due to that the cashieres check was bad/ fake/ an the sucky part is the manager of az fedaral approved it, he could of held it till he KNEW it was a good check!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Cassie]

Hi My name is Cassie
I responded to an email about a week ago for a work at home position from a company called Lenovo Group Ltd.
The recruiter name, Mr. Chang told me I would be doing clerical work.
I asked for a phone number, he told me the only way to communicate is via email( first red flag).
The next thing you know he told me he would be sending checks to my home in my name 2nd red flag) for merchandise purchased and that I should take 10% . I told the guy there is no way I was cashing any checks in my name for anything I did not authorize nor am I selling anything so no checks should come in my name, the guy from Lenovo persisted.. A few days later , I received travelers checks in the amount of 3,0000 with my name on it. He gave me instructions on how to send the money to Ghana. He told me to split the money in half, send 1 half to one guy and the other half to another guy!!!!
I told him his job sounds illegal and I want no part of it. I also told him I spoke with the cops and the FBI about the checks. I told him to talk to them about the money. I never heard from him again!!! I kept all emails with this guy saved in a draft folder!!
These people are horrible.
Everyone please think twice before falling victim. If it seems to good to be true then it is. If something is off, talk to someone, preferrably the police.

[cindy]

Im in the middle of one of these scams now, this Mr.Ashley from RAC UK, is apparently havin one of his clients send me a check, then I found your site, thank you
well what Mr.Ashley doesnt know is that i am totally broke, I dont have money to send him,when and if I get this check I will tell him, that Im gonna have it checked out and wait 3 wks for it to really clear and see what he says, IM gonna fix this guy for messin with me, I am PISSED
THANK YOU FOR YOUR INFORMATIVE SITE,
Cindy

[cathy]

Hi LOL I got an e-mail from Mr. Ashley too!

[Cathy]

Besides Mr.Ashley, has anyone heard of Brian Thorpe? I got 3 of those emails THIS weekend...any idea how that would happen? How did they all of a sudden start contacting me? My friend in LA called me Friday to tell me about a check they got...she was SO excited!!! They had NO money and this check was a "gift from the Lord" until she spent her evening with the Secret Service!!!!

[Brooke]

I reciently got scammed. I received an email asking me to cash some cashiers checks and wire it out by Western Union to Ghana. When the checks went throught the scanner and were approved, I was like okay they are good. So I took the rest of the money to wire out. At the end of the week I got a call from the bank informing me that they were fakes!! They took the last $242 out of my account. Not to mention I have my child support direct deposited into that account. I can't get the child support stopped to the account so the bank gets to swallow my only source of income in order to pay back the checks. I've called any lead I can think of. I have made a report with the local authorities. They aren't really wanting to help. What's really stupid is that they sent me $5000 more in fake checks. I called the cops immediatly. The cops don't really want to do any investigating. Now I have absolutly nooo money till I can get the child support to not be deposited into the account. That should only take about two weeks. What's messed up is the bank won't let me file a fraud report.

[bobby]

well i just got scammed apparently and am going to have to call the police. i just wanted to make a little extra money the guys email said ten percent and i thought ok ten percent of 3000 is only 300 dollars not too much well today i was shocked when the 3000 was actually 10000 so now we are talking 1000 dollars and that did not sound right so started researching and found this sight and now i feel pretty stupid so now it is this guys turn because i did keep all his info and packages and will give all of it to the police tomorrow!!! wish me luck

[Jay]

Wow. I have the money sittin in my account I dont now what to do. How much is the bank going to charge me? I had that same feeling, like let me look up this info on google and see. The crazy part about it is the bank was in the state of MI. I google it and it is truley a bank and on the ups folder it had the comapny name on it. So I said maybe this is laggett. So instead of me taking the check to my bank 1st because I knew they were going to hold it and he ( Gary Garland) was offereing 600.00 every 2 weeks other than the 10% (oh yah Mr. Ashley offer didnt have nothing on Gary Garland, he made it a little bit more interesting lol) so I took it to one of those check cashing places and they wouldnt cash it or give me the reason why. I email Gary Garland and told him, he said that they didnt have enough cash there and that is why they didnt cash it. That made me a little bit more hesitant, but I took it to the bank anyway b/c my name is on the check and if the bank cleared it , that is there fault, right. (This is what I am thinking when I am sitting in the parking lot of the bank) So here I am now about to be back in the negatives...lol There is no point of calling the police , they are not going to do anything but file a report. I am just glad I didnt send them the money.

[Steve]

I recieved a check for an item i sold for 950.00, the item was worth 500.. i asked why he / she sent me extra and they said for me to send the difference back.. but before cashing i wanted to make sure it wasnt a scam by making sure the check didnt bounce and the bank said it was safe and legit.. ( I told them my situation) Anyways, I ended up sending them the 450.00 and now i find out im out 450.00 and i was scammed. Will the bank cover me since they said the check cleared and was safe?

[Julie]

I recently applied for a job in customer service with LiveUniverse on CareerBuilder.com. I did a search for LiveUniverse, and since it is a legitimate company, I thought it might lead to a real job...

Through email, they asked for my name, address, age, and current occupation. They then said I had the job, and would be receiving checks from their customers.

I received a check today by FedEx. The check is from Anderson University in Indiana, and the bank is Star Financial bank in Indiana. An email instructed me to cash the check at my bank, keep 10%, and send the balance via Money Gram to a man in Canada.

I called the University, and they said I was the 3rd person to call them today about a check received. I called Star Financial bank and reported it. I took the check to my bank and reported it. I was advised by them to take all the information I had to the Atty Generals office. I guess I will go there tomorrow...

[Gail]

Hello, I also being nieve, got scammed out of $3100. The website is:

Corporate Headquarters:
International Forwarding Company
6a Primorskaya Str.
Odessa 65026, Ukraine
Tel: +38 0482 283772
+38 0482 283773

Business Hours (GMT Time):
Monday - Friday: 8:30 am - 6:30 pm
Saturday: 9:00 am - 2:00 pm

The position was for a 'Managers Assistant'. I recieved 2 wire transfers to start and they were ok. Then I started receiving checks from: Online Bill Payment Processing Center in Columbus, Oh. They all had stop payments placed on them. My account is overdrawn $3100.00. I have e mailed the contact person: HRVOLKOV@AOL.COM, but he is not repsonding to my e amils. I do not know how to get my cash back!!!! My mortgage is in foreclosure cause I do not have that kind of money. The website is: IFO@I-F-C.NET....

[Walter Richters]

I just want to state that while a felt a fool when this happened to me a year ago, I don't think that recieving crass sarcastic feedback helps anyone in this situation. I read such a post in here. When one feels stupid for having made a bad mistake, they do not need salt poured into their cut. People will be chastised by their friends, law enforcement, and any other advisers for falling for this scam. They do not need sarcasm for feedback online as well.

We all live and learn and apparently there are a lot of "us". Webistes that areinformative help. I am happy that this site is up.

[Betty]

i was scammed by these people in a check cashing scheme.They sent me a 4,850.00 cashiers check and 4000.00 usps money orders-thank god I hadnt sent the cash to them but I dont trust internet jobs anymore!!!!
MARK COLLINS
ADDRESS 5 FAIROAK GROVE
CITY: ENFIELD, LONDON
COUNTRY: UNITED KINGDOM
ZIPCDE: EN3 6LY

AND

NAME: COLE JULIE
ADDRESS 5 FAIROAK GROVE
CITY: ENFIELD, LONDON
COUNTRY: UNITED KINGDOM
ZIPCDE: ; EN3 6LY

[Jo]

I recieved a 4,580 USD check from coca cola company the check is in a account i had opened using the check no worries it has a $0 balance policy so any way the funds are to be available on AUG.7th the bank dude called the issuing bank and everything checked out but i have no idea why i recived the check right now everything is falling apart finacially in my life so i am having a hard time deciding on what to do if the check clears they have a 9 day hold on the check so if it clears is it a scam of some sort or what and after 9 days it should all be good to go right?

FROM DEB: No, Jo, it is a scam. Cash it at your own risk. You know it's a scam. Nobody sends checks for nothing. If you cash, and you spend, do not feel sorry for yourself when it comes back to bite you. Or, worse, when the cops show up at your door!

[Gary]

I was scammed last October and didn't realize it until I couldn't get in touch with Lisa from Media Placement, Inc. anymore. Amount lost was
$ 2399.00 USD. When you are scammed once I guess your name is on some list (watched by scammers) because I now get regular scam emails that I keep on file. The last was a next of kin out of Africa. Please just be more cautious. I am!

[ms disappointed]

hello, my daughter who was so desperately wanting to go to college, and could not afford it without some financial assistant answered what appeared to be a ligit ad on the website, these people ended up calling her on several occassions to get additional information from her. a few days later just as they had promised; she recieved a check in th email for $4,000.00, (just in a nic of time)she only had 1 day left to register and pay her monies for classes, the check was drawn on a bank in south carolina, well of course thinking her prayers were answered and to avoid the 3 day hold that her bank was to place on the check, we did a road trip to South Carolina(2hour drive). her faith restored, only to get to the bank and find that the check was a complete and utter "SCAM". She never read the fine print that she had to send $3,000.00 of this to a man, who's name I can't remember, through western union, the bank manager/president was very nice, we both (my daughter and i cried uncontrollably), all she wanted was to go to college, and for someone to play such a cruel joke was unbelievable. The bank manager explained to us how this scam works, and told us to be thamkful that we did not get the money because we would have been held liable. He felt so bad for us that he gave us gas money to return home.We never found out anything regarding the issue, but i advise any one don't fall in this trap, and don't ket the excitment keep you from reading the complete letter/instructions.

[New Name]

Received an email scam resembling above from a company at www.abb-company.com offering me a 'job'. My 'job' was to cash these checks that everyone is talking about. Good thing I googled before falling into this trap.

FYI, the 'new' persons name is Brook Hamilton and the email address was job@abb-company.com.

- LUCKY ONE.