Greg's Corner

Tagged: fake check Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts

• 

  Geebo 8:00 am on October 11, 2021 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: car wrapping ( 11 ), check scam ( 79 ), fake check, job scam ( 81 ), Scams ( 1,383 ), Zipcar   

  Rental car company’s name used in scam 

  

  By Greg Collier

  Many of you might not have heard of Zipcar. They’re kind of like an Uber for rental cars. Instead of the cars being owned by a rental company, they’re owned by private citizens looking to make a little money by renting their car out through Zipcar. Zipcar is also owned by car rental giant AVIS. So, at least on the surface, they seem like a mostly reliable company. Of course, if you’re a reliable company, someone will use your name to try to scam people. We’ve seen such scams with companies like Apple, Microsoft, and Uber, so I guess it’s Zipcar’s turn now. In the interest of transparency, this is not an endorsement of Zipcar, and Zipcar had nothing to do with the actual scam.

  A man from Norfolk, Virginia, received a random text message that appeared to come from Zipcar. The text said the man could make hundreds of dollars just for driving his car around with a Zipcar decal on it. The man caught on to the scam quick when he clicked on the link in the text, and it went nowhere. Never click on those links, by the way. The report we’ve read doesn’t go into details, but the man received an email from a fake Zipcar representative.

  The man wanted to see how far the scam would go, so he responded claiming he was interested in the promotion. Not too long after that, he received a ‘welcome package’ in the mail. The package contained a Zipcar sticker, a letter, and a cashier’s check for $2,980. Of course, the check was a fake and the man did not deposit it.

  This is very similar to the car wrapping scam, where victims will be asked to wrap their whole car in some kind of advertisement. The victim will be sent the usual fake check and will be asked to deposit the check in their bank account. The victim will then be asked to take some of the money as their payment and used the rest to either buy ‘supplies’ from a vendor working with the scammer, or the victim will be asked to send the money to some third party as part of ‘business expenses’. When the victim’s bank finds out the check is fraudulent, it’s the victim that’s held responsible for that money.

  According to the Better Business Bureau, the Zipcar scam has been finding victims all over the country and fleecing them of thousands of dollars. As with most scams, you should ignore any unsolicited texts promising you money. Not only that, but real companies, especially as one as large as AVIS, will never ask you to deposit company funds in your own checking account. If any employer does, you can almost guarantee that the check is a fake.

   

  Leave a ReplyCancel reply
• 

  Geebo 8:00 am on August 18, 2021 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: advance fee scam ( 45 ), college ( 17 ), fake check, impersonation scam ( 148 ), job scam ( 81 ), pet sitting, police scam ( 37 ), Scams ( 1,383 ), sweepstakes ( 25 )   

  Scam Round Up: Pet sitting, Bitcoin, and Magazines 

  

  By Greg Collier

  Today, we’re bringing you another trio of scams that warrant your attention. This week, we have three scams that variants of other scams we’ve discussed.

  If you’re in college, or have a child in college, the Better Business Bureau is warning about a particular job scam. It appears that in both Florida and New York, college students are being offered part -time pet-sitting jobs for a pretty good wage. However, this is just a ruse to send the college student a fake check as payment. The students will be told to deposit the check, purchase some supplies, and return a portion of the check. While the bank will honor the deposit at first, they will eventually determine it’s fake and put the financial burden on the student since they were the one that deposited the check.

  ***

  In Northern Ohio, authorities there are reporting victims there are falling for a Bitcoin scam, but it’s more like the police impersonation scam. The scammers are posing as federal investigators who tell the victims that someone in Texas near the Mexican border has rented a car in the victim’s name and a large cache of illegal drugs were found in the car. In order to avoid arrest, the victim is told to pay a substantial amount of money. Previously, the scammers would have victims mail cash or buy gift cards. In this case, the scammers are instructing victims to make payments through Bitcoin ATMs, which we’ve previously discussed here. No law enforcement agency is ever going to threaten you with arrest if you don’t make a payment in cryptocurrency or other untraceable means of payment like gift cards.

  ***

  Lastly, in Rhode Island, an alert FedEx clerk saved a man from falling for a scam that could have cost the victim thousands of dollars. When the clerk asked about the man’s shipment, the man claimed it had $500 worth of old magazines in it. The clerk was suspicious and was worried that the man was being scammed. With a manager’s approval, the clerk opened the package and there was $15,000 worth of cash inside. While the news report doesn’t say what kind of scam the man had almost fallen for, the man said that he was promised a bigger payout if he mailed the cash. This sounds an awful lot like an advanced fee scam or sweepstakes scam where that victim was told to send cash intertwined in the pages of magazines. Remember, that you don’t have to pay any fees for a prize like that. Taxes for such prizes are usually figured out later.

  ***

  Hopefully, these scams don’t come to your area, but now you’ll be prepared if they do.

   
• 

  Geebo 8:06 am on July 29, 2021 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: fake check, gift cards ( 102 ), job scam ( 81 ), money transfer ( 7 ), Scams ( 1,383 ), secret shopper ( 15 )   

  Secret Shopper scam tries to streamline 

  

  By Greg Collier

  Secret Shopper scams are back again. To be honest, they never really go away, but if the scammers were to be believed there would be more secret shoppers than actual shoppers.

  Being a secret shopper is an actual job. Many retailers hire secret shoppers to go to their various stores and review the shopping and customer service experience. It’s a job that’s been around for decades, too. When I was in my late teens, I was working a retail job and was admonished by my manager because a secret shopper caught me not wearing my name tag. You better believe I wore my name tag from then on.

  The secret shopper position has long been a favorite tool of scammers. In this latest case reported by the Better Business Bureau of Tulsa, scammers are emailing victims telling them that they’ve already been approved to be a secret shopper. If a victim responds to the email, they’re then told that they need to review a money wire transfer service like MoneyGram or Western Union. The victims are then sent a phony check. They’re instructed to deposit the check in their bank account. Then the victim is told to use the wire transfer service to transfer most of the money back to their boss and are told to keep part of the check as payment. Since the check is fraudulent, the victim who deposited it in their bank account is responsible for the check’s amount and any fees to their bank. Yet, the scammers have made off with the majority of the value of the check.

  This is the most streamlined version of this scam we’ve seen in quite some time. Typically, scammers will send you the fake check, have you deposit it, have you buy some items at whatever store they’re imitating, then have you send back the difference. This version of the scam goes right to the heart of the matter and has victims just essentially send the scammers money.

  As we have stated, secret shopper is an actual paying job. However, no company is going to email you out of the blue to tell you that you’ve been chosen. The position is actually a lot more rare than the scammers make it out to be. That’s not even taking into consideration that no real employer will ask you to deposit a check in your own bank account before spending it. And any time money transfer services or gift cards are involved, you can assume that everything about the job is a scam.

  If you want to actually become a secret shopper, you can check with the Mystery Shopping Providers Association at their website.

   
• 

  Geebo 8:00 am on June 16, 2021 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: fake check, Scams ( 1,383 ), Snapchat ( 13 ), social media ( 81 ), sugar daddy scam ( 2 ), teenagers   

  Scam targets teens on social media 

  

  By Greg Collier

  If you’re a parent with teenagers, your children may be just a little bit more tech-savvy than you. While they may have a wealth of tech experience, teenagers tend to lack real-world experience. Many teenagers often lack the knowledge to know when something is too good to be true. Scammers are aware of this and use their lack of knowledge and experience to lure them into traps. It’s our job as parents to try to protect our kids from these mistakes, but not only can’t we hover over them 24 hours a day, teenagers are very good at hiding things. You may want to have a talk with them about this scam.

  A sheriff’s department in Ohio has noticed an uptick in a scam that targets teens on Snapchat. It’s been dubbed the sugar daddy or sugar mamma scam. In this scam, the scammers approach teens and promise them money in exchange for them to send good morning and good night messages. The scammers will then send a large check to the teen while either asking a portion to be sent back or to a third party. If you’re a longtime reader, you probably recognize this as the fake check scam. Once the teen deposits the check and sends money from it elsewhere, they’ll be responsible for the full amount of the check once the bank realizes the check is a fake. Not only could this affect their credit before they even really get started in the world, this could also have damaging psychological effects on teens as well.

  The best way to prevent them falling to this scam is to make sure their Snapchat accounts aren’t public accounts where anyone can contact them. Periodically check their friends list on Snapchat to make sure there are no inappropriate contacts on their list. Now, you may think that’s a little invasive and that you trust your kids to make the right decisions. That’s all well and good, but you can’t trust the adults that are approaching them on social media.

   
• 

  Geebo 9:04 am on March 2, 2021 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: fake check, Instagram ( 17 ), modeling ( 8 ), Scams ( 1,383 ), social media ( 81 )   

  Modeling scam targets would-be influencers 

  

  By Greg Collier

  Modeling is a profession that is already fraught with peril. For aspiring models of any gender the pitfalls can range from being overcharged for photo packages to becoming the victim of human trafficking. Thankfully, today’s story didn’t have such drastic results, but it does show just one of the many ways those starting out can be taken advantage of.

  A man in Southern California was recently arrested for allegedly scamming a woman out of money with a phony modeling contract. The man is said to have reached out to a woman on Instagram and offered her $175 an hour for a photoshoot. The man claimed to be an intern for a record label and was recruiting women for a music video.

  The man is said to have given the woman two checks for $1,000 instead and claimed he was paying her for future photoshoots. All she needed to do was deposit the checks into her bank account and return the overage of the payments back to the supposed photographer.

  As you can probably imagine, the checks turned out to be fraudulent. The woman’s bank called her hours later to let her know that the checks were no good. This victim was lucky considering in most instances of fake check scams the banks usually don’t notify you for days and by that time the scammer is usually long gone with your money.

  This scammer’s downfall was that he tried to victimize the woman again. While she was at the police station reporting the crime, the scammer called her trying to set up another meeting for another photoshoot. He was promptly arrested shortly thereafter.

  Aspiring models should be wary of any unsolicited offer that comes through social media. They should also research any potential offers to make sure they’re dealing with legitimate professionals and agencies.

  Lastly, no job, no matter what field, will ask you to deposit a check into your bank and then ask for some of the money back. That’s a dead giveaway that the check is a fake. If the scammer in this case were to have disappeared, the victim would have been responsible for the amount of the checks and any penalties the bank may have charged.

   
• 

  Geebo 9:00 am on January 14, 2021 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: car wrapping ( 11 ), check scam ( 79 ), fake check, job scam ( 81 ), Scams ( 1,383 )   

  Car wrapping disguises old scam 

  

  Wrapping your car in advertisements is similar to the secret shopper scam. While there are legitimate opportunities to make some money by having your car wrapped in advertising, the scammers seem to vastly outnumber the legitimate vendors. The car wrap scammers are actually just using this ploy to find people to use in one of the most common scams of our time.

  The car wrap scam is just an extension of the fake check scam. Scammers will either post an online ad looking for people to have their car wrapped, or they’ll solicit people in the mail. Either way, victims are sent a check and are told to deposit the check in their banking account, so they can pay to have their car wrapped and take some money as payment. Then the victims will be instructed to send any money leftover to the scammers.

  The checks are fake, and if you deposit the check and then spend it, you’ll be responsible for the check’s amount to your bank plus any additional fees. When a bank receives a check as a deposit they’re operating under the assumption that the check is legitimate and the funds should be immediately available. This is especially true if the phony check resembles a legitimate cashier’s check.

  Recently, this scam has started to appear again in different parts of the country. We’ve seen reports from such diverse places as Pittsburgh to rural Alabama. This is a good indicator that the scam could show up in your area sometime soon.

  No legitimate employer will ever ask you to donate a check into your personal bank account that’s not your paycheck. If one does, it’s almost certain to be a scam. A scam that could very well leave you worse off than you might have already been.

   
• 

  Geebo 8:00 am on October 27, 2020 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: employment ( 37 ), fake check, job scam ( 81 ), money orders, mystery shopper ( 5 ), Scams ( 1,383 ), secret shopper ( 15 )   

  New scam switches out fake money orders for checks 

  

  One of the more common online scams is the mystery shopper scam. Mystery shopper is a real position. They are people hired by retail outlets to go into their stores and rate the customer service of each individual store. However, the job isn’t as common as most scammers would have you believe.

  In the mystery shopper scam, scammers will pose as these retailers and pretend to hire their victims. The scammers will then send a fake check to the victim and instruct them to deposit the check. The scammers then instruct the victim to go buy some gift cards with the money and the victim can keep what’s leftover. The victim doesn’t often find out they were scammed until the fake check bounces in their bank account and the victim is held responsible by the bank for the difference.

  A report out of North Carolina is claiming that scammers are now using fake US Postal Service money orders instead of fake checks to pull off this scam. While the fake form of payment has changed, the results are still the same. If a victim deposits the phony money orders into their account they will be responsible for the damages once the bank realizes the money orders are fake.

  As we previously stated, mystery shopper is a legitimate position. However, in order to become one, you have to become certified with the Mystery Shoppers Association and you have to contact them. They will never contact anyone out of the blue.

  Also, please keep in mind that no legitimate employer will have you deposit a check or money order into your personal account that’s supposed to be used for business purposes later. This is almost a sure sign of an employment scam.

  If you receive what you suspect is a phony US Postal money order, you can take it to your local post office, and they will be able to determine if it’s real or not.

   
• 

  Geebo 8:00 am on October 19, 2020 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: check scam ( 79 ), craigslist ( 129 ), fake check, New Jersey ( 7 ), OfferUp ( 23 ), Scams ( 1,383 )   

  The original fake check scam resurfaces 

  

  The fake check scam has been around as long as items have been sold on the internet. As we have shown, there are many variations on the fake check scam, but to our knowledge, this one was the first. We even used to call it the Craigslist check scam since it was so prevalent on their platform.

  This scam happens when you try to sell something online no matter what platform you may choose to use. You’ll receive a check from a prospective buyer for more than the amount you were asking for. The buyer will give some excuse why the check was written like that. They’ll then ask you to deposit the check and just return the overage.

  The problem occurs when your bank finds out it’s a fake check after you’ve already returned the overage to the phony buyer. Even though you’ve been the victim of a scam, your bank will hold you responsible for the full amount of the fake check you deposited along with any associated fees.

  This recently happened to a woman from New Jersey. She had lost her job because of COVID and was selling some of her personal belongings on the OfferUp app. She listed some furniture for sale and it wasn’t long before a prospective buyer contacted her on OfferUp. The buyer then moved all communications to text messaging.

  The buyer even had a sob story all ready to go to get the seller’s defenses to go down. The buyer claimed that her grandmother was ill in the hospital and that the buyer’s secretary accidentally sent a check for the wrong amount. The check received was for over $2600 when the seller was only asking $900.

  The seller offered to have the check destroyed so the buyer could send a new one. Instead, the buyer insisted the check be deposited and the seller could send $1000 of the overage back through payment app Zelle and the rest through Venmo which the seller did. The check turned out to be a fake cashier’s check and now the unemployed seller has to pay at least $1700 back to her bank.

  When you’re selling on any online marketplace, any time you receive a check that’s more than your asking amount it’s almost guaranteed to be a fake. Also, be aware of any kind of sob story attached to an irregular payment like this. You should also be aware of any transactions that are offered to be done over payment apps like Zelle, Venmo, or Cash App as scammers can block you after taking your money.

  We always recommend only doing business locally and only with cash. Also, you should do any exchanges of items and money at a local police station as many stations now have areas set up for such occasions. While it may not be the perfect solution, it does go a long way in discouraging criminal behavior from happening.