Possible Scam?

I received a odd package today when I got to the studio. It was a large package only containing a check that did not have any hand writing on it. It was all printed. The name on the check and the name on the return address do not match. I do not recognize either name as any of my clients or potential clients. Its for a amount that I don't even have any packages that could add up to. Fresno County Federal Credit Union is printed at the top. It all screams scam to me. I was wondering if any of you have delt with a smiler scam.

Did the "client" have their phone number on the check? Maybe look up the address for a phone number, or you could contact the Credit Union tell them you have a check from that person without knowing what for and ask them to contact the client so that they can get in touch with you (a stretch, but if they have good customer service I think they will do it).

The addresses being different could be for a number of reasons, so it could all just be coincidental...But it is weird that they would send you a check without talking to you first. I'm curious as to how this will turn out

Let me google that for you...
http://lmgtfy.com …Federal+Credit+​Union+scam

Ah I missed the one article about the scam when I had goggled it before. Anyway my question was if anyone else had run into this scam so Old Coot you really are not answering my question at all. I'm interested in why it exists in the first place. I don't see how the scammer would get anything out of doing this?

I failed reading comprehension as a child. Yes, a lot of us that have sold stuff on the internet have had people try the 411 scam. Usually, you will be contacted again by someone wanting their money and ask you to cash the check and send it to them. Anyway, I saw your subject line "Possible Scam?" and gave you the information directly from the credit union in question that pointed it out as a scam. I figured that it did not need to go any further. But since you are curious, just go cash the check and let us know how that works out so that we will have some in depth, second hand knowledge.

sarahashleyphotos wrote in post #15416047
Old Coot you really are not answering my question at all. I'm interested in why it exists in the first place. I don't see how the scammer would get anything out of doing this?

Old Coot is having you on. There are variants of this scam. In all of them, the scammer sends the mark (= the potential fraud victim) a worthless check and asks for real money in return, maybe in cash or maybe as a wire transfer. The real money comes out of the mark's bank account.

when they come looking for it, tell them it's at the police station.

I am a fraud investigator at a large national bank for my full time day job. We are gettin hit hard with these scams, sometimes we see 40-50 per day. Its amazing how people fall for the obvious. No, your girlfriend you just met online DOES NOT LOVE YOU and which you have never met is sending you $2000-5000 and asking for you to send it back via Western Union.

Keep in mind that these checks largely come from compromised business accounts which can take many months to return as lost/stolen/forged. If it were desposited it may be quite a while before it charges back, potentially leaving you in the negative and you are the one held responsible.

Criminals are slick and pretty smart. All day long I deal with these dating scams, the "you won the lotto" scams, inheritance from someone you didnt know existed scams, and the ever popular Craigslist scam. We have to build a case large enough for law enforcement to accept, which is typically $75k-100k for secret service and FBI, but the difficult thing is that these people have been traced back to West Africa which makes it a nasty international matter. Yuck

Sorry for rambling on, but this is a subject I can finally contribute something useful to