Counterfeit checks an Internet menace

Herb Weisbaum • Profile • E-mail

Overseas con artists are sending billions of dollars worth of counterfeit checks and money orders to the United States. They are using these high-quality forgeries to steal a staggering amount of money from unsuspecting victims.

Fake checks are now the top telemarketing scam and the second most common Internet scam reported to the National Consumers League’s Fraud Information Center. The average victim loses about $4,000.

These bogus checks are used to buy things, from furniture to used cars, advertised in newspaper and online classified ads. They are also used to rent apartments. Fake checks are now part of work-at-home schemes and contest scams.

The storyline varies depending on the specific con, but the victim is always told to do the same thing — deposit the fake check or money order into their own account and then wire transfer a portion of the funds back to the sender.

The swindlers prefer wire transactions because they are fast and generally irreversible. Once you realize you have been scammed, you can’t stop payment. It is also easy for them to get the money this way. It can be picked up in cash almost anywhere in the world.

“The checks are really convincing and so are the stories the con artists give when they send them to people,” says Susan Grant, who runs the National Fraud Information Center. “The checks look so realistic that even bank tellers can’t tell that they are phony.”

U.S. postal inspectors are working with law enforcement agencies in other countries to break up the international crime rings that run these check scams. Between January and August of this year, they seized more than a half-million counterfeit checks worth $2.1 billion dollars headed to the U.S. from Nigeria, the Netherlands, England, and Canada. As part of this global crackdown 77 people have been arrested. But the counterfeit checks keep coming.

Top swindles The six most popular fake check scams are: — Foreign Business Offers: Scammers pretend to be business executives or government officials and promise millions of dollars. But real companies and government agencies don’t offer legitimate business propositions to people they don’t know. — Love Losses: The scammer poses as a romantic interest online, and promises to come to the U.S. to be with the victim. Soon after, the online friend asks the victim to cash a check or money order to cover “travel expenses.” — Overpayments: Scammers buy merchandise online, and then claim they mailed the wrong amount by mistake. The seller is asked to deposit the “wrong” check anyway, and then return the “excess” amount to the scammer. But the check doesn’t clear, and the victim has sent the scammer his own money. — Rental Schemes: Scammers claim to be moving to the area, and put down a rental deposit. Then they tell their landlord they have unexpected expenses, so they ask for some of their deposit back as a favor. They never move in, and the deposit check never clears. — Sudden Riches: The scammer claims the victim has won a foreign lottery or sweepstakes. The notice comes by mail, phone, fax or email. Consumers should know that winners of real cash prizes are notified by certified mail. — Work-at-Home: The scams promise easy money by “processing” checks. The victim deposits the checks and sends the money to the scammer, minus a small fee. Legitimate companies don’t do business like this.                                          Source: U.S. Postal Inspection Service

“These guys are very good at what they do,” says Assistant Chief Postal Inspector Harold Lane. “They’re con men so it’s very convincing.”

They fooled Jill Parker, a businesswoman in Richmond, Virginia, who had an apartment for rent in Chicago. She got a response to her ad on Craig’s List from someone who said he was moving there from the United Kingdom.

In his e-mail the cyber-thief told Parker he said was getting a $25,000 relocation package. “I’m just going to have them make out the check to you,” he wrote her. “And you can take out what I owe you and wire the rest to my agent who will use it to furnish my apartment.”

Parker waited a few days after depositing the check before she wired back the bulk of the check, $21,000, as instructed. She called the bank and was told the check had cleared.

“And I said, are you sure? They money is in my account? And they said ‘yes, we’re looking at your account online right now and it’s there.’ ”

About 10 days later, Parker got a call from the bank telling her the $25,000 check was bad and the deposit was being reversed. She had to replace the missing funds.

“They say they have no liability,” Parker told me. “As far as they were concerned, it’s tough luck.”

MORE FROM CONSUMERMAN

ConsumerMan Section Front

Chinese drywall a big threat FTC nabs Moneygram Death in the digital age Free samples? Just say no ConsumerMan mailbag: Car rip-offs and more ConsumerMan Section Front   Add ConsumerMan headlines to your news reader: