What does counterfeit cheque fraud offer?
Counterfeit cheque frauds rely on your willingness to
help someone else and perhaps make a profit.
How does counterfeit cheque fraud work?
- You advertise an item for sale in a listings
magazine or paper; on an online advertising board; or on an online
auction site. The items are often high-value, such as cars.
- Someone contacts you from abroad to say they
want to buy the item you are selling and you both agree a price.
The fraudulent buyer says they will send your payment and asks you
to forward the item once you receive it.
- You then receive a cheque for more than the agreed
amount. The fraudster gives you various reasons for the
overpayment. For example: to cover shipping costs or to provide
cash that the fraudster is unable to access for some reason.
- The fraudster asks you to pay the cheque into your bank account
and, when it clears, to withdraw the excess in
cash and send it to them through a money transfer agent or
to a specified shipping agent.
- The cheque you receive is a fake. The banking
system only picks this up after the money shows up as cleared in
your account and you have sent the money to the fraudster.
- When the banking system identifies the cheque as a fake,
your bank will debit money to the value of the
cheque from your account, leaving you out of
pocket.
How to recognise a counterfeit cheque fraud
- Be aware of overseas buyers
who readily agree a price without seeing what they
are buying
- If the buyer refuses to agree shipping costs
in the overall price, this indicates fraud
- Any buyer who sends a cheque for more than the agreed
amount and asks you to send cash to them, a shipping
company or anyone else is very probably up to no good.
What you should do