a cheque from a stranger ?

somethingcorporate

Your son had a check for a number of thousands of pounds and he paid it in anyway without knowing who it was from or where it came from?

It may be a little more complicated if the police start an investigation, regardless of what the bank say.

Gromitt

I'd keep a close eye on your credit report just in case the bank raise a CIFAS flag.

jonesMUFCforever

Let me tell you how the scam works.
1 You get an unsolicited cheque for £x
2 The scammers rely on our greed (ring any bells here) to bank the cheque quickly.
3 The scammers rely on the cheque going through the clearing system (I know in this case the book has been reported stolen) and rely on some companies only perhaps reconciling their accounts at say month end.
4 The cheque ''clears'' but then they contact you about the ''mistake'' and ask for their money back. They even will tell you to keep say £50 for your trouble and cost to return the funds.
5 This is the clever bit - most people will refund without question!
6 The original cheque then bounces (no 2-4-6 for fraud) and your account is then debited again!

So if the cheque is for say £500 - you send back £450 and then your account is debited with £500. Ouch!!

OP have you been contacted yet by the ''sender'' of the cheque?

MoneySaverLog

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

So if the cheque is for say £500 - you send back £450 and then your account is debited with £500. Ouch!!

So the £500 you paid in bounces, and you pay the scammers £450 so all in all you're out of pocket for £450 plus any fees for the bounced cheque. Ouch!

meer53

I also think your son may know more than he is letting on. Has anyone asked him to help them out by cashing this cheque ? Maybe they said they didn't have a bank account so asked him to bank it for them ? How would someone with a stolen cheque book have your sons name and address unless they knew him ?

MoneySaverLog

It's possible there is a suckers list, just like they have for the boiler room scams, or the scammers target those who they feel would be gullible to a scam like this.

innovate

meer53 wrote: »

How would someone with a stolen cheque book have your sons name and address unless they knew him ?

Dead easy these days for the determined crooks to buy address lists. And very difficult to figure out who sold them your address.

Gromitt

innovate wrote: »

Dead easy these days for the determined crooks to buy address lists. And very difficult to figure out who sold them your address.

Each person who has my address has it spelt differently, so if I get spam, I know exactly where it come from.

MoneySaverLog

Gromitt wrote: »

Each person who has my address has it spelt differently, so if I get spam, I know exactly where it come from.

I wondered about doing that myself. May be change the last letter of the postcode but was wondering if my mail would end up somewhere else. Besides I'm not sure whether it's entirely legal to do so.

Gromitt

I know someone at work who changes the last two letters of their post code (for example, they use BB for barclays bank). No post gone missing yet.

I always put the correct full post code but change the road address slightly.