Cashier's Check Fraud

Cashier’s check fraud is one of the most popular crimes in the internet age. Once thought to be safe, cashier’s checks now require extra attention from sellers. Make sure you know all the red flags of cashier’s check fraud so you can avoid expensive scams.

Safety and Cashier’s Check Fraud

It is ironic that sellers, who used to rely on the safety of these checks, now have to be more careful than ever. If you don’t know they buyer, you simply cannot assume that a cashier’s check is just as good as cash. While these checks may have advantages over personal checks, it never hurts to be safe.

A Typical Cashier’s Check Fraud

The most common cashier’s check fraud has the same ingredients. A buyer wants to purchase a product and will use a cashier’s check. For whatever reason, the buyer has a check made out for an amount in excess of the purchase price. Then, the buyer wants the seller to accept the full amount and send the extra money (either back to the buyer or to a third party).

If you’re faced with a situation that looks anything like this, you’re probably experiencing a cashier’s check fraud. Don’t send any money until you find that the paying bank has actually paid the funds.

The trick of the cashier’s check fraud is that the payee’s bank credits the seller’s account before the funds have actually arrived from the paying bank. Therefore, it looks like the funds have cleared and everything is OK. If you’re not sure what the difference is between seeing the dollars credited and actually having the dollars, visit your bank and ask.

Picking Cashier’s Check Fraud Apart

As with everything, you have to ask if the situation makes sense. Why would a person you’ve never met entrust you with thousands of dollars? If they can contact you, they can surely give adequate instructions to have the bank complete a cashier’s check correctly. If the excessive amount was in fact the buyer’s fault, wouldn’t the buyer pay the $3 (or whatever) fee to have an accurate check printed?

Finally, if they can come up with the money, they can surely afford to pay an extra cashier’s check fee to write another check to their “agent” or “associate”.

Detailed Cashier’s Check Fraud Examples

There are a number of good sites that provide examples of how cashier’s check fraud has worked in the past. Among them:

• The FTC’s Consumer Alert on cashier’s check fraud and cashier’s check scams
• FDIC’s FRAUDAlert has some creative variations of the cashier’s check fraud
• Snopes.com’s cashier’s check scam page. It’s not an urban legend!

The lesson is clear: don’t believe that cashier’s checks are just as good as cash.

Armed with this knowledge, hopefully you can do business safely and avoid cashier’s check scams.