overpayment scam

porkev

hi all,
I haven't been around for a while, but I was wondering if anyone had an idea what to do with a overpriced cheque:
I have some golf dvds on gumtree and over christmas I had a "young lady" say she was very interested and could I tell her the final total, I sent a mail back saying it was 54.99 and if she clicked on the link in the advert she would go through to the sales page and paypal,
It come back I don't trust paypal can I pay by check(bells start to lightly ring), so I said yes, a week later she came back and said sorry for the delay payment will be sent soon, then today I get home from work and a hand written letter was there sent recorded delivery, I looked at the name on the back didn't recognise it at all and when I opened the cheque it was for £4000 (bells are ringing like a cathedral now,)
switched my computer on and there was 3 emails in broken english of course- cheque sent tracking number etc, my friend put too much on the cheque, and please get in touch straight away as my friend wrote too much on the cheque so please take £100 for yourself and send the rest back,

So I thought someone on here had probably had the same and wondered how they dealt with it
cheers
Kevin

brettcta

shred the cheque. if you cash it, you'll soon find that it bounces and any money you've sent to said scammers gets taken back by the bank and you're up slack alley

real1314

The cheque will bounce. it's worthless.

The sender hopes you will pay it in and once the "funds" clear (which they may do before the bank realise it's duff) you pay them the balance back.
Then a week later your bank take the money back and you are left owing what you paid the scammer.

:cool:

lisawood78

Light the fire with it

marywooyeah

real1314 wrote: »

The cheque will bounce. it's worthless.

The sender hopes you will pay it in and once the "funds" clear (which they may do before the bank realise it's duff) you pay them the balance back.
Then a week later your bank take the money back and you are left owing what you paid the scammer.

:cool:

see this has always confused me - whats to stop you just cashing the cheque and keeping the money without sending them anything?

zagfles

I'd report it to the bank the cheque was drawn on, as it's likely to be stolen.

zagfles

marywooyeah wrote: »

see this has always confused me - whats to stop you just cashing the cheque and keeping the money without sending them anything?

Nothing. But some people will send them the balance, and if it's a stolen/forged cheque they've not lost anything.

porkev

Originally Posted by marywooyeah
see this has always confused me - whats to stop you just cashing the cheque and keeping the money without sending them anything?

nothing, but they will find out it is fake/stolen at the issueing bank and if you cash a fake cheque you willl probably get a fine from the bank,

thanks for your replies, I have shredded it,


cheers
Kevin

goodz

Did you report it to the police or are you going to let the scammers carry on looking for their next victims?

Voyager2002

goodz wrote: »

Did you report it to the police or are you going to let the scammers carry on looking for their next victims?

Sadly, the scammers probably are the police. The Nigerian police use methods such as this to supplement their meagre salaries, and since they don't like competition other people are unlikely to be involved in this "business".

giraffe69

if you cash a fake cheque you willl probably get a fine from the bank,

Has someone given the banks new powers?