Anyone run into this scam?

[DaveT]

Best not to get into this kind of deal at all. BTW, when I worked for a bank call center it was not unusual for a check to come back as a forgery a month or more after being deposited/cashed. Even money orders came back as fakes. I deal only in US Postal money orders (Very hard to forge, and any post office can verify authenticity) or paypal.

Dave T.

[crissy]

its a scam, and happens to me on craigslist! all the time I just delete. I buy with checks often to avoid the credit card stranglehold, usually tell seller to let check clear and always offer referrals from the site like this one that I have already done business with. no matter what the situation there seems to be a criminal available to scam anyone willing to take the chance.

[whinewine]

I just recently got a call from Colorado from a man with a very foreign accent ("hallowww, my name is [something banft??] & i call about your tires. You get price to ship me & call me back, OK?" I asked, why don't you buy tires there? & he replied, "I cannot get here." :wtf: Well, the 2 tires in question are slightly used & mounted on used 13" rims off an old car I no longer own ('92 toyota tercel), & I just want to let the entire set go for $35. These tires are also commonly available new and any junkyard generally has 13" 4 bolt rims, even in Colorado, probably for just a few dollars apiece. It would cost probably in excess of about $100- $150+ to ship the tire/rim combos... Now they are listed on craigslist (what a bunch of creeps- soliciting sex & 'hey, my unemployed brother made $1 Million per second & so can you just email him at www.boyimamoron.com), but since craigslist has me listed anonomously I figured this didn't come from that source. Additionally, I have the tires listed on a local 'dial and deal' program which also has an internet listing & it does have my first name & phone # published, so that's where I figure this troll got my name & #. I did a reverse phone number check & found out that his cell number originates from a town near Denver Colorado, but his name was unlisted, so I never called him back & he never called me back (in spite of the urgency/desperation of his call the night before). So if you get a weird call like this, be very aware that this is probably a scam, and don't bite. And if you list something on your local 'dialndeal' radio program, check to see if there is a website through the sponsoring local talk radio station (many do, anymore).

[JohnBarton]

As to the question of how banks work in cases of credit card or check fraud, they do hold whomever accepted the transaction liable in the case of a fraudulent transaction. You may not think that is fair or legal, but not only is it legal, it is normal procedure for even the most "reputable" banks.

Think about it - whatever they do, it's going to be unfair to someone, whether it's the business who accepted a fraudulent credit card transaction or the independent artisan who accepted a bad check. For that matter, it's really no more fair to expect the banks to eat fraudulent transactions, because they are no more responsible for what happened than the person who accepted the transaction, maybe even less so. But the person who is primarily responsible for the fraud is nowhere to be found.

So in view of that bit of harsh reality, it is incumbent on us as business people to be careful who we do business with, and how we conduct business to protect ourselves.

Kate

To be perfectly clear I was in no way suggesting that banks should eat fraudulent checks and money orders.

I do find it way over the top however to CHARGE their customer $25/35/50 etc.... when the person who is depositing the check does not have the bank's resources to verify authenticity. The bank SHOULD have a clearance time frame in which they verify the authenticity and when the BANK has verified it then the funds are good and they STAY good.

That's my only point as someone who has been in business for himself for 20 years.

It is not right and not fair to make the presenter of the check liable for up to year for the face value of the check. It is not right to assess high fees to the presenter for the type of transactions that cost the bank pennies to process.

Let's use another example.

Imagine that you had a counterfeit $20 bill which you didn't know it's counterfeit. You take it to the bank along with ten other 20s and deposit it. The bank teller runs all the 20s through the detector and it spits out the fake. So then she keeps the fake and deducts $40 from your legitimate $200 worth of deposits as a "fee" for handling no-value monetary paper. Would you accept that? If so then I want to be your bank.

The way our financial system works it's ALL GEARED to put all the risk on the seller with the bank taking no responsibility but charging all the fees.

Of course when I take a check from someone I am taking the risk. However when I give it to my bank and my bank says it's good then I have to trust that my bank has done whatever they are supposed to do to talk to the other bank and transfer the money to my account. AT THAT POINT there should be no more question.

That's my only point.

[Three Gun]

Kate,

I would take all of the information to your local post office master as this constitutes "Mail Fraud" and is a Federal Crime. The post master can get postal authorities involved and they will hunt this clown down.

Three Gun!