Savings and Investment Options

A recent survey found that nearly one-third of all adult Americans have been approached with a scam involving a fake check and nearly 5 million have been taken in by them. Check fraud could cost you thousands of dollars and it usually begins when someone gives you a check or money order that is fake but looks real and asks you to send or wire cash somewhere in return. It may take several weeks for the fake check to be returned. It is a scam that could cost you thousands of dollars – you are financially responsible for the checks or money orders you deposit or cash.

COMMON SCAMS

There are many variations of the fake check scams. The most common scams involve sweepstakes, lotteries, grants, mystery shopping, foreign business opportunities, overpayment offers, and work-at-home opportunities. However, they all have one thing in common: the scammers want to steal your hard-earned money!

To avoid being scammed:

Never agree to send or wire money to claim a prize or lottery winnings – this is a common scam. Often, the scammer will say the wire is to cover taxes, customs, processing fees, or other expenses. Then when the fake check is returned, you lose the money you have wired. Legitimate lotteries and prize contests would never ask you to send money – they would deduct those fees and costs from your winnings.
Never agree to send or wire money for grants from the government or foundations. Once you send the money, it is impossible to get it returned.
Never agree to cash checks or money orders and send part of the money somewhere as a part of a job working from home or mystery shopping. The scammer may claim you will be processing checks from their clients. They ask you to deposit or cash the fake checks, keep part of it as your “fee”, and send the remainder by wire. The checks will be returned and you will lose the total amount you sent to the scammer.
Never agree to send excess funds above the purchase price of an item you are selling. A scammer will intentionally send you more money and ask you to keep the sales price and wire them the excess. They may use the excuse that the bank processed the check for the wrong amount or they owe someone the difference. Regardless of the excuse they use, this ploy is a scam. The check will be returned – you will lose the money you have wired and the item you sold! If someone wants to send you money, insist on a cashier’s check for the exact amount of the purchase on a local bank or a large bank with a branch in your area so that you can visit the bank or branch in person and verify that the check is legitimate.
Never agree to wire money to anyone unless you have known them for a long time. Once a wire is sent, it cannot be recalled or retrieved by the bank or by the authorities since many of the scammers operate from foreign countries.
Use a healthy dose of skepticism when accepting checks from individuals you do not know. Fake checks can look real and are difficult to spot, even for experts. Scammers may even use a fake check that looks like a bank cashier’s check. Sometimes, they create fake checks that appear to be from legitimate, well-known businesses.
If it seems suspicious or “too good to be true”, it is. You should get sound advice from a knowledgeable person and contact the authorities.

Fake check scams work because the criminal often sounds believable. The scammers look through newspaper and online ads for items for sale. They also review online job postings from people looking for employment. Scammers may even post ads trying to get potential victims to contact them. They also place random telephone calls, hoping to lure in a victim.

Because banks must make funds available within a specific time, you may have access to the funds from a fake check. However, just because the funds are available does not mean the check is legitimate. It can take weeks for a fake check to be discovered and be returned.

Don’t be a victim of a fake check scam! To get up-to-date information on check scams and other frauds, visit the Fraud Prevention page in the Consumers section of the Oklahoma Bankers Association Web site at http://www.oba.com/consumers/fraud_prevention.php