Fraud

[tribalmember]

Has anyone who is a seller ever had someone send you a check for well over what your item cost nearly $3000 vs $1000 and then ask for you to send the rest to someone who is picking up the item? This happened to my young daughter this week.  They are refusing to write another check saying this one has already been issued to her by their bank. We have the check but will not be cashing it. I have contacted eBay. If this has happened to you, what did you do?  They also have our address. I hate this kind of stuff!!

[vintage-car-magazines]

It's a scam.

Their check is no good. What they want is to send you a fake check and you to send them real money.

[katzrul15]

Fraud for sure...new spin on it evidently.

Guessing stolen checks?  I would contact Law Enforcement also since they have your home address.  Ask them for advice/potentially file a report. 

Have you googled the name/address on the check?  Does it match the Buyer in any way?  Assuming check is fake?

[vintage-car-magazines]

Also, be careful with the check. If it get's deposited the funds will become "available" based on the number of days they bank has to wait. The funds becoming available, doesn't mean the check is good. The fake check will come back later and the bank will pull the funds. 

For those that fall for this scam, when the bank pulls the funds it's too late because the victim has already returned the "overpayment".  Usually, they'll ask for that payment to be make via some method that can't be reversed.

[a_c_green]

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@tribalmember wrote:

Has anyone who is a seller ever had someone send you a check for well over what your item cost nearly $3000 vs $1000 and then ask for you to send the rest to someone who is picking up the item?

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That's the oldest scam in the book. Realistically, they're never going to actually pay you, although if you want to yank their chain a little, tell them to have the guy who is supposedly going to pick up the item also bring the payment in cash. Tell him you have no obligation to pay his shipper (which is true).

Please get off the idea that checks can be used for payment in such cases. Your bank might provisionally honor it as a courtesy, but when it's eventually rejected by the bank that supposedly issued it, your bank will come after you for reimbursement. That "overpayment" is the amount that they are hoping to get from you. (It might be interesting to get the ID of the guy who is supposed to show up to claim the payment, but he's probably just some mope who is already getting scammed in some way.)

[eleanor*rigby]

Very old scam, indeed; however, I've not read about it happening on eBay until this thread. Interesting (and not in a good way).

[gracieallen01]

@tribalmember 

Yes, it is a scam.  The first time that someone tried it on me was back in the 1990s.  Not a new trick/idea, but not quite as popular as some of the 'quick money' (gift card, instant refund, etc.) scams.

[pikabo-icu]

@tribalmember 

Since everyone has so expertly addressed the check thing, I have only one thing to add;

Do NOT worry about them having your address- I guarantee you they will NOT be showing up at your house.

They are criminals yes but the nameless, faceless, cowardly type.. 

[lacemaker3]

@tribalmember,

I'm sorry this happened to you. It's a very, very old scam. It predates the internet, and it used to happen on eBay sometimes, when checks and money orders were still acceptable for payment. 15 years ago or so.

Your daughter hasn't been paid. Don't try to cash the check, it's fake. It could take up to 30 days or more to bounce, even if you take it to the same bank it was written on. Bank of America was particularly notorious for that; taking a month or more to bounce one of their own checks.

You can cancel the transaction for non-payment on the 5th day after the listing ended. Do that, and you will get the fees credited back, and the scammer will get a non-payment strike on their account.

[postingid7659]

This scam is so old it doesn't even get ID'ed to buy booze anymore. 

How it works is you would deposit the check, send out the overage to their "shipper" or back to them or whatever they come up with, then anywhere from a week to a month or so later the check turns out to be no good, but they have your money and you are on the hook for the whole amount of the check.  

The last time I had one do this to me I gave them a fake address and let them send it there.  Since you already have the check, I would consider telling them to go ahead and come pick up the item and giving the street address of a police station or something.  

[wesk_36]

"This happened to my young daughter this week."

Don't do anything and stop communicating with the scammer.

Let the sale play-out as a non-paying buyer, block them too. Fraudulent checks don't count as payment, of course.

"Sellers don't need to open unpaid item cases any longer. Instead, orders can be canceled if a buyer hasn't paid within 4 calendar days. If you still have open unpaid item cases, you have 36 days from the date they were opened to close them. If you don't close them within 36 days, we'll close them for you, but you won't be eligible for a final value fee credit and the unpaid item won't be recorded on the buyer's account."

https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/getting-paid/resolving-unpaid-items?id=4137&mkevt=1&mkcid=1&mkrid=...

[vintage-car-magazines]

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@pikabo-icu wrote:

@tribalmember 

Since everyone has so expertly addressed the check thing, I have only one thing to add;

Do NOT worry about them having your address- I guarantee you they will NOT be showing up at your house.

They are criminals yes but the nameless, faceless, cowardly type.. 

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They'd likely need to update their passport and buy an airplane ticket.

[sin-n-dex]

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@tribalmember wrote:

Has anyone who is a seller ever had someone send you a check for well over what your item cost nearly $3000 vs $1000 and then ask for you to send the rest to someone who is picking up the item? This happened to my young daughter this week.  They are refusing to write another check saying this one has already been issued to her by their bank. We have the check but will not be cashing it. I have contacted eBay. If this has happened to you, what did you do?  They also have our address. I hate this kind of stuff!!

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The cheque is fake, and a very convincing fake. At my work someone used our address (for credibility) to send out fake cheques. They got caught when the mail was undeliverable and came back to me. I notified a manager. The cheques weren't like ours, they stole someone else's stationary. I've received fake cheques. Don't cash them. The bank will tell you it's clear and take the money back weeks later.

C.

[sin-n-dex]

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@katzrul15 wrote:

Fraud for sure...new spin on it evidently.

Guessing stolen checks?  I would contact Law Enforcement also since they have your home address.  Ask them for advice/potentially file a report. 

Have you googled the name/address on the check?  Does it match the Buyer in any way?  Assuming check is fake?

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That won't help. The fake cheques sent by my company were coming from our address which is really convincing, the part the scammer didn't count on is that they'd forget an apartment number or get a postal code wrong and they'd come back. I got three in one day.

So just because the return address or company is good, doesn't mean they wrote the cheque.

C.

[sin-n-dex]

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@vintage-car-magazines wrote:

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@pikabo-icu wrote:

@tribalmember 

Since everyone has so expertly addressed the check thing, I have only one thing to add;

Do NOT worry about them having your address- I guarantee you they will NOT be showing up at your house.

They are criminals yes but the nameless, faceless, cowardly type.. 

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They'd likely need to update their passport and buy an airplane ticket.

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If you tell the scammer "I took the cheque to the bank and they said it's fake and there's no real money here" the scammer will stop writing immediately. It's true the cheque is fake and the scammer can't argue with that. They won't pursue the matter for fear of angering their victim into calling law enforcement. (In the case of our fake cheques they were from other people in Canada, so law enforcement would have been interested. Not sure what happened to this after I handed the cheques off, but two hours later a bulletin came out to everyone in the company about fake cheques circulationg, so I did some good here).

C.