I went into Walmart to purchase a gift card. The customer service representative asked a few questions about the purpose of the purchase and how do I plan to use it before she proceeded.
Those are excellent questions because it helps prevent us from becoming victims of FAKE CHECK/OVERPAYMENT scams.
Especially now, during the pandemics, many of us are anticipating receiving a relief check. A check shows up, and you are ready to deposit it. In the meantime, you received a phone call and said it is overpaid and asked you to return it for a refund for the overage.
The person on the phone offers: “for your convenience and getting paid sooner, you can deposit it in your bank and purchase a gift card, money order, or wire transfer to refund the difference.”
Sounds too good to be true?
Since, more and more we do business online , another popular scam scenario is people buying something from you online, “accidentally” send a check for too much, and ask you to refund the difference.
The pitches vary, but all have two elements: a check to deposit and a rationale for why you must send some of the money to someone else, perhaps by wiring it through a money transfer service or by loading cash onto a gift card (Google Play and iTunes are popular) and providing the P.I.N, which the F.T.C. said, “it is almost impossible to trace or reverse.” The illusion is, “You have a check-in your hand, then a deposit in your bank account. It doesn’t look fake. It feels completely risk free.”
It is most likely you received a “fake check.” Fake checks come in many forms. Scams work because fake checks generally look just like real checks, even to bank employees. They are often printed with the names and addresses of legitimate financial institutions. They may even be real checks written on bank accounts that belong to identity theft victims.
By law, banks must make deposited funds available quickly, usually within two days. When the funds are made available in your account, the bank may say the check has “cleared,” but that doesn’t mean it’s a good check. Fake checks can take weeks to be discovered and untangled. The check eventually bounces, leaving you owing money to the bank.
By that time, the scammer has any money you sent, and you’re stuck paying the money back to the bank.
If the check looks real, but someone asks you to cash it and send money back, that is a red flag.
The F.D.I.C. suggests immediately notifying one or more agencies. You can report the fraud to the F.T.C. on its complaint website . If the fake check arrived by mail, you can notify the United States Postal Inspection Service. You can notify your state or local consumer protection agency, which can usually be found through your state attorney general. For possible online crimes involving fake checks and money orders, you can file a complaint with the F.B.I.’s Internet Crime Complaint Center.
