Mystery Cheque Received

Dave101t

if its not a bank error (and it is not) then there is no legal way for anyone to claim the money off you, keep quiet and spend it

hayley11

Brooker_Dave wrote: »

Why would they do that?

Again, if you had read back you would have seen that the bank told him to pay it in to see what would happen.

jonesMUFCforever

My opinion it is part of a scam and fraud.

It may well be that the real owner of the funds is out of the country and has not checked their statement yet and found their account lighter by £4k.
The scam works like this - the person who sent you the cheque may well get in touch again soon apologising for sending you the cheque and asking for its return - you of course no longer have the original cheque (greed!) and because its been 3 weeks you assume that the cheque will no longer bounce. So you return the funds using one of your own cheques (laundered funds!)- that will be debited from your account in days - then the original drawer will be wanting his money back - guess who's account will be debited with £4k??

So from being £4k up you will soon be £4k down - and expect a visit from plod if this is found to be part of a big fraud ( it is becoming more common).
You need to come up with a convincing reason why you banked a cheque from someone you do not know and was not expecting. The reason given so far -the bank told me to pay it in is likely to get you a jail sentence.

Don't forget the 2-4-6 rule for cheque clearance does not apply for fraudelent cheques written.

ShelfStacker_3

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

Don't forget the 2-4-6 rule for cheque clearance does not apply for fraudelent cheques written.

Not strictly true. You have to be a knowing party in the fraud, rather than just a victim.

Honestly, stick the money in a savings account and leave it for a while.

tyllwyd

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

....The scam works like this - the person who sent you the cheque may well get in touch again soon apologising for sending you the cheque and asking for its return - you of course no longer have the original cheque (greed!) and because its been 3 weeks you assume that the cheque will no longer bounce. So you return the funds using one of your own cheques (laundered funds!)- that will be debited from your account in days - then the original drawer will be wanting his money back - guess who's account will be debited with £4k?? ....

That does sound plausible - like one of the Western Union type frauds. Would it help if you insisted that the money could only be given back by bank transfer to the original account?

Kavanne

willo65 wrote: »

pop it in a savings account for a few months and see if anything happens....

... Try 6 years.

Biggles

tyllwyd wrote: »

That does sound plausible - like one of the Western Union type frauds. Would it help if you insisted that the money could only be given back by bank transfer to the original account?

No. You could still be construed as 'a knowing party to a fraud' (see posts #17 & #34) and have your cheque bounced after sending the funds.

tyllwyd

Biggles wrote: »

No. You could still be construed as 'a knowing party to a fraud' (see posts #17 & #34) and have your cheque bounced after sending the funds.

But if the cheque was drawn on one particular account - and you made sure the money was credited back to that same account - wouldn't that cut out the third party fraudster?

amersall

yes i agree with that. only do a direct transfer back to the account the money came from

emweaver

Biggles wrote: »

If you are contacted by the other party, be sure not to send any money back but to talk it through with the police and the bank.

Though the cheque has cleared, the cheque can still be bounced if you are 'a knowing party to a fraud', which might be construed as being the case if you sent all or part of the money (they would probably suggest you kept some 'for your trouble') back to the sender. That way, you would lose what you sent back and you'd lose the £4,000 too.

This is true, we had a cheque once for £5000 when we were selling my husbands motorcycle. They overpaid us and asked us to send a cheque for the difference. then literally 2 weeks after the cheque cleared the cheque bounced out of our account. Luckily for us we hadnt yet sent them the cheque they were requesting. if im correct a cheque can still bounce upto 6 months later if beleived to have been fraudulently cashed? it could be fraud. they may ask you for the money back then after youve send the cheque their cheque could bounce