If this is a scam, please explain it to me....

[Thomas McCurnin]

It doesn't take minutes to see if the check clears, because the check could be, and likely is, a counterfeit, and the scammer will distort the MICR numbers at the bottom of the check in some way so the check will not electronically scan and has to have a add on strip called a Lindy Strip to be processed. If it is out of the Federal Reserve zone you are in, it might take a week or two to actually clear, and the account holder has 30 days to spot the fraud and report it back to the bank, so you are on the hook for about a month. Even cashiers checks can be counterfeit.

[Stan Calow]

I thought this is what cashiers' checks aka counter checks (like a large money order) are for: big transactions using the issuing bank's money, not a private check. But still not a transaction I'd do.

[Jim Becker]

I thought this is what cashiers' checks aka counter checks (like a large money order) are for: big transactions using the issuing bank's money, not a private check. But still not a transaction I'd do.

They can still be forged and pretty well, too, by some folks. A lot of scammers out there are not working along, either. There's less risk of that when you're dealing face to face with a buyer and they get you a cashier's check from a local bank branch.

[Chris Parks]

As a general rule Australia stopped using cheques years ago and 99% of payments are made digitally but these scams continue to happen even then.

[Lee Schierer]

If you accept any check from a private citizen for that amount, take a photograph of them holding the check and a photo of their drivers license.

[Michael Schuch]

Forged check. The check clears against someone else's account and you sign over the truck. The account holder files a police report and gets their money back. By the time that has all been cleared up the truck has been sold to someone else with your signed over title. The scam artist can't be found or traced.



I got a call the other day. Amazon wanted to know if I had purchased a Mac book recently...
Me: "Yes sir, I did."
Caller: "Huh???"
Caller, in a perturbed voice demanded: "When did you purchase it!!!"
Me: "Don't you have the transaction information in front of you?"
Caller: CLICK!
Me: LOL!!!!

[Jim Koepke]

I got a call the other day.

Calls from overseas are often on some internet or other service so there is a delay between my answering the phone and someone on the other end saying, "hello." I try to time my hang up to when they are half way through saying, "hello." I'm sure that is very frustrating, I know this from personal experience from back in the days of pay phones with connection delays. It doesn't seem normal to me to call someone and after they answer to just say, "hello" and nothing else.

Sometimes if I want to have fun, after they say, "hello" I will say, "hello, our records indicate your vehicle warranty is about to expire." They usually hang up on me.

jtk

[Michael Schuch]

I am not so nice. Someone calls with a car warranty offer or what ever. I am very interested but I am on the on the other line right now, Hold on, I will be right back in just a minute.

About 6 minutes of them on hold is my top score so far... you only 10 words to convince them you are interested so you really have to sell it with the tone of your voice. I have had more practice selling it with the tone of my voice than I care to.

[Greg Quenneville]

My 85 yr old mother-in-law's hobby is messing with scammers. She strikes exactly the right note of sweet and gullible, pausing the steps in the scam with lengthy travelogues about Australia involving fictional characters identified only by first name as though the scammers knew these people too.

She had one guy spend ten minutes waiting for her to finish her rambling to give her (phoney) bank details. She actually cackles when she gets a live one.

[Jerome Stanek]

I have not gotten any of those calls since I switched over to Magicjack with their call screening that requires the caller to push some random number for the call to ring my phone.

[Larry Frank]

I get calls that suggest they are from Medicare. I am certain some older people are confused. It is so sad that businesses are set up to scam people.

[Michael Schuch]

My 85 yr old mother-in-law's hobby is messing with scammers. She strikes exactly the right note of sweet and gullible, pausing the steps in the scam with lengthy travelogues about Australia involving fictional characters identified only by first name as though the scammers knew these people too.

She had one guy spend ten minutes waiting for her to finish her rambling to give her (phoney) bank details. She actually cackles when she gets a live one.

Excellent! Good for her! The longer we tie them up the less profitable it is for them to try to run their scam. I hope she invites them over to see the pictures????

[Nicholas Lawrence]

Got it.

What made me wonder is that they offered to wait until the check cleared. I was not aware that checks could be denied AFTER clearing, and the last thing I want is to owe my BIL money I don't have.

It is not that a check can be denied after clearing, it is that clearing does not mean what many people think it does.

Banks pretty much universally offer you an advance credit that posts to your account when the check is deposited at your bank. The credit is of course contingent on the check clearing, and buried somewhere in the fine print disclosures on your account it will say that the bank can take it back if a check bounces.

Most people think that because they can see the credit to the account, the check has cleared. But in reality you are just seeing the advance credit.

Clearance is a complicated process that runs through the one of the federal reserve banks and takes days.

[Bill Dufour]

I know when I sell stock, Schwab deducts the money that night but takes a few more days to transfer the cash into my account. Then I have it sent to Wells Fargo. Again it is gone that night but takes a few more days to show up. So it can easily take 3-5 days for money to get over. This is all online with accounts all tied together tied together in my name. So pretty hard to run a scam.
It was confusing the first few times as the money is gone from my accounts but floating in cyber space and I have no idea where it is.
I am sure involving a check from an outside account, not already verified and tied to my account, would take much longer to be confirmed.
Kaiser was cashing my checks for about six months but forgot to credit my account. They even stopped sending me a bill. They threatened to cancel my insurance for non payment.
I had to get the state insurance commission to get it straightened out. The state was aware of the ongoing book keeping problems before I called them. Kaiser was so bad they could not tell me what my monthly premium should be. The bills went up and down each month before they stopped coming
BilL D .

[Jim Koepke]

It was confusing the first few times as the money is gone from my accounts but floating in cyber space and I have no idea where it is.

You can bet the banking folks know where it is. Banking may have changed since the last time I looked into it. Financial institutions at times make money on the float through overnight loans to other financial institutions. It doesn't take 3-5 days so much as federal regulations require banking transactions to be completed in specified periods of time.

Recently we received a check from a state office in California. Our bank (one of the big ones) took a whole week to credit our account. At least we were not in need of the funds at the time.

jtk