@AlteredBeast: @B: That's crazy! Is it a US thing? What if you did ACTUAL work and were paid with a fake check? How would the bank know that you didn't know it was fake? Why wouldn't you just tell them where you got it?
]]>Scammers, beware!
]]>Great, now I have Steve Miller Band music in my head.
]]>Really, even if someone gave you *cash* and asked you to wire money to someone else, don't do it. Even if everything checks out, you're still laundering money for a stranger.
]]>@AlteredBeast: My understanding on this (been in banking several years and asked this of tellers a couple times) is that if the check bounces, you don't have any penalties UNLESS you already spent the money you thought you had, overdrawing your account. If you simply wait for it to clear and it doesn't, the amount is debited back out of your account with no extra fees.
]]>@AlteredBeast: Didn't finish...sorry! anyway....thus depositing and letting it clear (or waiting till it doesnt) will still hurt the victim.
]]>@unobservant: I was under the impression that even if the person who deposited the fake check doesn't realize it is fake, they can get penalized by the bank.
]]>They forgot the .html
]]>So scammer sends you a check, tells you to test Western Union/Moneygram by sending you a portion of the amount on the check, and you keep the rest as payment for your mystery-shopping duties...
If someone tried to pull that nonsense, I'd say, "Hey - I have an idea! Let's test the Western Union/Moneygram system by having YOU send the large amount to me, and then I'll immediately send you back the smaller amount once I pick it up and see if it works! See how all outside-of-the-box and proactive I am?"
Either that or I'd, oh, I don't know, WAIT UNTIL THE CHECK CLEARS before I did anything with my own money.
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