May 8, 2003
If you are trying to sell something in the paper or on the internet.. here's something you should know. A sale could end up costing you money if you fall for a counterfeit cheque scam. Leo Steynen advertised a metal lathe for sale on the internet for $4500.
A buyer contacted him and proposed an odd transaction says Steynen. "He e-mailed me and said he was in South Africa at the moment and he was willing to offer me $9000, which made me think something's funny here."
Steynen asked the buyer why he would send twice the asking price. The buyer said he was acting on behalf of a client that already owed him $4500. He said that money was tied up in an existing $9000 cheque.
The buyer said he would send that cheque to Steynen, Steynen would cash it, keep his $4500, and then send the other $4500 and the lathe back to the buyer. Steynen thought it sounded fishy, but he also did not see how he could get burned, as his bank cashed the cheque and gave him the money.
Detective Sam Newson says the trick is Steynen may have had to repay the bank everything would have lost his lathe.
He believes con artists were setting Steynen up to cash a counterfeit cheque written on an actual business account. "They are copies of actual cheques, some are completely counterfeit where they have generated the entire cheque and some are simply stolen cheques intercepted in the mail and forged."
Here is how you end up getting stung. You take the cheque to your bank because it is drawn on an actual company's account and appears legitimate. They cash it after holding it for a few days.
Weeks later when the cheque goes back to the company the fraud is discovered and you get charged back the money. To recognize this scam, Detective Newson says it is more important to remember the methods used than any particular company name, since company names will change.
!!!
If you are trying to sell something in the paper or on the internet.. here's something you should know. A sale could end up costing you money if you fall for a counterfeit cheque scam. Leo Steynen advertised a metal lathe for sale on the internet for $4500.
A buyer contacted him and proposed an odd transaction says Steynen. "He e-mailed me and said he was in South Africa at the moment and he was willing to offer me $9000, which made me think something's funny here."
Steynen asked the buyer why he would send twice the asking price. The buyer said he was acting on behalf of a client that already owed him $4500. He said that money was tied up in an existing $9000 cheque.
The buyer said he would send that cheque to Steynen, Steynen would cash it, keep his $4500, and then send the other $4500 and the lathe back to the buyer. Steynen thought it sounded fishy, but he also did not see how he could get burned, as his bank cashed the cheque and gave him the money.
Detective Sam Newson says the trick is Steynen may have had to repay the bank everything would have lost his lathe.
He believes con artists were setting Steynen up to cash a counterfeit cheque written on an actual business account. "They are copies of actual cheques, some are completely counterfeit where they have generated the entire cheque and some are simply stolen cheques intercepted in the mail and forged."
Here is how you end up getting stung. You take the cheque to your bank because it is drawn on an actual company's account and appears legitimate. They cash it after holding it for a few days.
Weeks later when the cheque goes back to the company the fraud is discovered and you get charged back the money. To recognize this scam, Detective Newson says it is more important to remember the methods used than any particular company name, since company names will change.
!!!
