Unsigned Cheque from Buyer - Anyone else had this?

smcicr

Hi,

All of a sudden ebay is throwing up some less straightforward transactions

Buyer has sent a cheque for an item (which is fine) but then sent an email saying that in the rush to send the payment off they might have forgotten to sign the cheque and then went on to say...

"If i have, you have my permission to sign it yourself. Just write {their name} in some fancy italic way, that should do it. How would they know anyway."

So not knowing whether to laugh or cry at this i sent back a message saying if the cheque was unsigned then i would certainly not be signing it and they could either send a replacement or make a card payment via paypal.

The cheque turned up this morning - unsigned.

What do people reckon - forgetfulness or a scam - I'm rather more wary of proceeding with this sale with this buyer at all now - if it is a scam and they go for paypal what happens if it's a dodgy card? (also presuming i transfer the cash out of paypal as soon as it hits)...

I've mailed them back asking for a replacement / alternative payment.

aliasojo

Maybe you're jumping the gun a bit here? It's entirely possible this was a genuine mistake by a person who is perhaps not as careful as they should be (by telling you to sign the cheque yourself).

I have had a cheque like this before and I've also had a letter with no cheque enclosed at all. Both times were genuine errors and payment was received shortly afterwards.

windym_2

I have had a cheque without signature, and paid it in. I didn't query it until next time in the bank, the cashier says that unless they spot it, any cheuqe under £5000 is not scrutinised. However, if the payer then raises the query, the cheque can be cancelled and the money taken back out of your account.

Hold out for another cheque, but take it as a genuine mistake unless you know otherwise.

smcicr

it's definitely possible i'm over reacting - i guess i've been reading too many of the warning tales on here and elsewhere! it just seems crazy to me that they would say sign the cheque for them - surely that is obviously fraud?

Mark7799

Similar thing happened to me recently - I sold an item and buyer sent a cheque dated 10/09/2006!. I emailed the buyer to advise him - normally I don't worry about waiting for cheques to clear before sending stuff out but I gave him three choices - to send me another cheque (properly dated) and I'd send the item by return, that I'd pay the cheque in but wouldn't send the item for ten days or he could pay be by direct bank tf. Buyer was happy for me to try and pay the cheque in - not spotted at the Bank and all OK.

soolin

As I've had problems with cheques I would be cautious with any buyer who happily suggests that a seller 'just signs the cheque anyway'. As has already been said, wait for a new cheque and when you have it make sure all words and figures match and then wait a couple of days for it to get into the system before sending out the goods.

The buyer was actually asking you to committ a bank fraud and must be treated as a little suspicious!

Soo

Jellicle

An unsigned cheque is just a piece of paper. You can return their unsigned cheque when you send the item (if you do).

Do not sign their cheque and/or attempt to pay it in, like Soolin says that is fraud. It sounds to me like your buyer was trying to get you to do that so that once they have received the item they could get their bank to send the cheque back to you. Thus they will then have the item AND will not have paid you. Once that happens there is little you can do to recover your item, you can't even report it to the police without admitting that you signed the cheque which is an offence...

If they now send you another cheque I would now not send the item out until the cheque has cleared. In fact I think I would insist on a postal order if I was in your shoes, this buyer sounds very dodgy to me.
In fact if you send the item to this buyer you now need to send it by Recorded Delivery so that they can't claim they never received it, especially if they use Paypal.

youngmoney_2

Jellicle wrote:

An unsigned cheque is just a piece of paper. You can return their unsigned cheque when you send the item (if you do).

Do not sign their cheque and/or attempt to pay it in, like Soolin says that is fraud. It sounds to me like your buyer was trying to get you to do that so that once they have received the item they could get their bank to send the cheque back to you. Thus they will then have the item AND will not have paid you. Once that happens there is little you can do to recover your item, you can't even report it to the police without admitting that you signed the cheque which is an offence...

If they now send you another cheque I would now not send the item out until the cheque has cleared. In fact I think I would insist on a postal order if I was in your shoes, this buyer sounds very dodgy to me.
In fact if you send the item to this buyer you now need to send it by Recorded Delivery so that they can't claim they never received it, especially if they use Paypal.

Totally agree with this. Not only is forging a signature on a cheque illegal, banks do actually do random spot checks for signatures. If the cheque was for a lot of money then it could be someone who has found a chequebook in the street or stolen it and is hoping to get lucky.

It sounds over cautious yes but I have known it to happen before. If it is for a small amount say £10 then ok its probably true but that is very suss. I suggest you tear up the cheque, request another one just to be safe. After all its better to spend a further week waiting on it than to end up with a bobby knocking on your door for fraud!!!

smcicr

Thanks to all for replies - I have requested either a replacement cheque or an alternative payment and the buyer has replied advising they will be sending a replacement cheque.

I will be waiting for the cheque to fully clear and getting confirmation from the bank that it has gone through before sending the item - i would have done this anyway (well, full clearance) but especially so now.

I'm trying to keep an open mind as much as possible - faith in human nature and all that but it just started off with such a dodgy (in my eyes) statement about signing the cheque that i was wary.

Anyone know what the in's and out's are if the cheque is dodgy when it arrives - is there a way i can get it checked by the bank - get it singled out for attention by mentioning my concerns to the counter staff at the bank? what if the bank clears it and then someone discovers they've had a chequebook nicked and used - does it come back to me or is it the banks fault for clearing it?? {sigh}

daveboy

I seem to remember that with Lloyds TSB a while ago my signature on a cheque prompted them to write to me saying it didn't match what they had on their records, so I had to give them an updated one.

So they do check them, but how much will depend on the bank.

The only thing I would say is that in my experience cheques are a pain in the backside. I only used to use them to pay car tax in the post office, but as you can now pay online with a credit card, I'll probably never use them again.

Whilst some people hate it PayPal is the easiest, although can have its own issues sometimes.

soolin

smcicr wrote:

Anyone know what the in's and out's are if the cheque is dodgy when it arrives - is there a way i can get it checked by the bank - get it singled out for attention by mentioning my concerns to the counter staff at the bank? what if the bank clears it and then someone discovers they've had a chequebook nicked and used - does it come back to me or is it the banks fault for clearing it?? {sigh}

Banks rarely take responsibility any more for ensuring items are 'good'. If the cheque is dodgy it can be recalled for several weeks, and although this has happened to me a couple of times it is an unlikely event.

Soo