One Stop Motors is passionate against online fraud. We, as an online advertisement firm ourselves, feel for those who fall victim to the clever tricks and traps of con-men. In an age dominated by the world wide web, we recognise that online fraud is prominent, even with all the protection in place on the internet. It will always be our mission to make our clients and readers aware of these scams and fraudulent schemes. Today, we bring you an example of a common scam not just over the internet, but one that has been in place for decades.
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The Counterfeit Cashier’s Check
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You are selling an item over the Internet – it could be a used car, motor home, or even an airplane. You should beware of the following:
You receive an email offer to purchase your item and the buyer says he’ll send a bank cashier’s check. The buyer is from Nigeria or “West Africa”, but has a business associate in the United States who will send you the cashier’s check. Then you are told that for some reason the check was already made out to you for an amount larger than your asking price. The buyer asks you to please deposit the check, wait for it to clear, and then send him the difference — “but only after the cashier’s check clears, of course.”
You are skeptical – but, sure enough, the bank cashier’s check arrives by Fed Ex, it looks real, your bank accepts the check, and the bank assures you the funds are in fact available. So you wait the time the bank recommends to verify that the check is clear and then you wire the difference to your buyer in Nigeria and prepare to ship your item.
A week later your bank calls: “We’re very sorry, but the cashier’s check was counterfeit” — a superb copy, but worthless. Your account is frozen. You must pay the bank back the entire amount of the cashier’s check. You may even be considered a suspect yourself.
Your “buyer” disappears. About the only good news: sellers rarely get to the point of shipping their items abroad. That doesn’t matter, now, you’re already paying for it twice.
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