New take on an old scam?

[Jstpssng]

My friend's son received a letter purporting to be from Western Union, along with a bank check for around $3500 , apparently from a national bank. in order to "test their system" he was asked to cash the check and wire most of it to one of their branches; but he could keep several hundred "for his trouble."

Need I finish the story? For 2 weeks they debated if he should do it; yet they never asked anybody who might give a sensible answer. Finally he took the check to his local credit union (instead of going 1/2 mile down the road, to a branch of the bank which issued the check.) CVashed the check and sent it out to the midwest.
He now has to come good on the check... which will be difficult as he has been unemployed since spring. The credit union promptly seized all money in his checking account.


Granted, most of us would have thrown the letter in the trash with all the other junk mail; however I've yet to find any other example of this particular setup, even on "Snopes."

 

[coffeeman]

My friend's son received a letter purporting to be from Western Union, along with a bank check for around $3500 , apparently from a national bank. in order to "test their system" he was asked to cash the check and wire most of it to one of their branches; but he could keep several hundred "for his trouble."

Need I finish the story? For 2 weeks they debated if he should do it; yet they never asked anybody who might give a sensible answer. Finally he took the check to his local credit union (instead of going 1/2 mile down the road, to a branch of the bank which issued the check.) CVashed the check and sent it out to the midwest.
He now has to come good on the check... which will be difficult as he has been unemployed since spring. The credit union promptly seized all money in his checking account.


Granted, most of us would have thrown the letter in the trash with all the other junk mail; however I've yet to find any other example of this particular setup, even on "Snopes."

I feel bad for the persons taken by the scam. I would bet there is not one here that can't say about many things, " I knew I shouldn't have done that." If it wasn't a $$ issue, it might have been a safety issue or some other stupid thing. Worse yet, it usually happens to folks when things are not running smooth to begin with.

Cheers...Coffeeman

 

[Tig]

Ouch, sorry to hear this.
You're right this is an old scam. Lucky it wasn't $35,000

 

[Mark_in_NH]

My friend's son received a letter purporting to be from Western Union, along with a bank check for around $3500 , apparently from a national bank. in order to "test their system" he was asked to cash the check and wire most of it to one of their branches; but he could keep several hundred "for his trouble.."

Please !! what legitimate bank Anywhere is going to do something like this ?

Need I finish the story? For 2 weeks they debated if he should do it; yet they never asked anybody who might give a sensible answer.

This tells me that they knew and felt all along that it was a scam.

Finally he took the check to his local credit union (instead of going 1/2 mile down the road, to a branch of the bank which issued the check.) CVashed the check and sent it out to the midwest.

This tells me that he knew, if he took the check to a branch of the bank that supposedly issued it, he knew or felt that that the bank would recognize it as a bogus check and not cash it.

He now has to come good on the check... which will be difficult as he has been unemployed since spring. The credit union promptly seized all money in his checking account.

I am sorry to hear that this person fell victim to this scam. But on the other hand, it also appears as though he has truly no one to blame but himself. He cashed the check knowingly and willingly. He is merely being held responsable for his own actions.
I don't mean to sound unsympathetic or harsh, but it's reality.
Welcome to the adult world !

 

[ToadHill]

Hindsight is always best but he should have taken the letter to the local post office. It's a federal crime to use the mail for illegal transactions.

 

[tallyho8]

I have received dozens of checks from scammers and they always say "keep some of the money for yourself for your trouble". This amount is usually way more than any honest company would pay someone for their trouble and should be a key that it is a scam. IF IT SOUNDS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE, IT'S NOT TRUE!

I have never attempted to cash any of these checks because I think that anyone with enough brains to have a checking account should know that this is a scam.

https://beta.tractorbynet.net/forums/index.php?posts/1779573/

 

[RonMar]

Education has a cost attached no matter how you look at it...

 

[Western]

Sometimes its hard enough to get a "check" from someone who owes you, let alone someone who doesn't.

The only thing we have ever gotten for free was a $600 dishwasher my wife won from a grocery store shopping card, even after getting it I was watching the back door. Call me skeptical...

 

[jimmyj]

IF IT SOUNDS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE, IT'S NOT TRUE!
]

Ain't that the truth.

 

[kidr]

There's another old saying that goes, " You can't cheat an honest man ".

 

[CurlyDave]

Finally he took the check to his local credit union (instead of going 1/2 mile down the road, to a branch of the bank which issued the check.)

If he had taken the letter as well as the check to the bank branch they would have gotten law enforcement involved, and the scammers would be on the run.

 

[Z RENCH]

Call me simple but I do0't understand a couple things. 1st of all, how was your friend's son out of any money if he cashed the check and has/had the money(3500$). 2nd who was the scammer? Was it the bank in which the check was issued? Was it a 3rd party? And 3rdly what did the scammer gain by doing it?

 

[Big Bri]

Call me simple but I do0't understand a couple things. 1st of all, how was your friend's son out of any money if he cashed the check and has/had the money(3500$). 2nd who was the scammer? Was it the bank in which the check was issued? Was it a 3rd party? And 3rdly what did the scammer gain by doing it?

i think the way it works is you cash the $3500 check. you keep lets say $500 and send them back $3000. a week later when the bank finds out it was a bogus check they pull the $3500 back out of your checking account as NSF.

on another note i hope i'm never so dumb or gullible to fall for one of these but i think it would have been fun to send a pinnie to them with a note that you were keeping the rest as a fee. (but not cash the check)

sorry to here about the loss.

 

[jinman]

I'm reminded of a cartoon I used to have hanging in my office. It had a guy standing in front of a vending machine with a sign reading, "Knowledge - 25 cents." The next frame he drops in a quarter. . .nothing happens. The final frame he is walking away saying, "I feel smarter already."

 

[tallyho8]

Also, the scammers never give you their address to mail them the money. They have you wire the money by Western Union. That way they can pick it up anywhere in the world even if they tell you they are right in the next town.

 

[Willl]

I'd tell your son to start looking for some smarter friends.

 

[Iplayfarmer]

There's another old saying that goes, " You can't cheat an honest man ".

I hadn't heard that old saying before, but those are the exact words I've been looking for. It seems like anyone who falls for any of these scams is acting on a false promise that they'll get more than they actually deserve.

 

[dave1949]

Part of this could be driven by greed, I agree. However, there are an amazing number of young folks who are totally uneducated about financial matters. Sometimes it's their ignorance that gets them into trouble.

IMHO parents should try to include their kids in family financial discussions as soon as they are old enough to understand it and keep a confidence. Then money and finance won't be such a mystery later on.
Dave.