Be particularly wary of any sale where the ‘buyer' appears to want to remain distant from you (such as not wishing to meet you or see the goods prior to purchase or by their using a third party as an intermediary or ‘shipping agent') and you then receive a cheque or banker's draft in payment that is for more money than your asking price. This may be an attempt at a cash back money transfer fraud.
The give away is often if at the time of receipt or later you receive a request to send all or some of this difference to the ‘buyer', a third party or a ‘shipping agent' by way of money transfer (irrespective of whether their cheque or banker's draft has already entered your account).
This is most likely an attempt at FRAUD with you as the intended victim. This is because a stolen cheque or bankers draft can be recalled by the bank even after the funds have gone through the clearing cycle and are showing on your account. Any money transfered by you cannot be recalled once sent.
You may not be reimbursed by the bank for your loss.
If you do become concerned during a sale:
- Don't be afraid to ask questions of your ‘buyer'
- Don't be hurried along by your ‘buyer' - This is often a tactic used by a fraudster to get you to make a mistake
- Check the details of any payment received- Do they correspond with what you know of your ‘buyer'?. If payment is by way of a company cheque or banker's draft try to contact the company directly to verify its legitimacy
- Talk to your bank – They will be able to give you guidance and clarify the status of any payments received
- Ultimately, don't be afraid to turn down a suspect ‘buyer'
If you do lose money to this type of fraud report the matter to your local police. There are many examples of attempts around motor vehicles due mainly to the value of these transactions creating room for ‘profit'
For example: a man advertised his Porsche 911 cabriolet for sale for £37,990 in a popular car sellers magazine and was contacted by a ‘buyer' purporting to be in Holland on email. He was then asked to accept a UK banker's draft for £43,680 from a third party in the UK who owed money to the ‘buyer' and send the £5,690 difference by way of a money transfer to a ‘shipping agent' once the funds cleared.
Businesses have also been targeted. A B&B in Stratford upon Avon reported receiving a series of emails from someone attempting to book a room. The first email placed the booking (at a cost of £450) and a second asked the business if it would accept a bankers draft for £4, 450. The 'customer' claimed that the figure on the draft had been made out in error, and asked the B&B to accept it and in return send the £4000 balance back. This was an attempted fraud and the business would have lost £4000 had they agreed to send the balance back.
Here is an example email sent by someone the Trading Standards Service believes may have attempted to perpetrate this type of scam. The email was probably sent to a large number of addresses, many not in any way connected with the sale of goods or services. The fraudsters behind the scam hope however, that some recipients will be selling goods and will respond. Those who do will probably receive a payment for their goods that is higher than the price, and following that a request for the balance to be returned. The original payment will have been made using stolen or forged information/documents.
DEAR SALES,
I VISIT YOUR WEBSITE AND I SAW THAT YOU DEAL WITH THE PRODUCT I SO MUCH LIKE.SO THEREFORE, I WILL LIKE TO ORDER SOME OF YOUR PRODUCTS IN YOUR STORE AND I WILL LIKE IT TO BE SHIPPED TO MY CLIENT IN
NIGERIA I COULD HAVE PLACE MY ORDER ONLINE,BUT MY WEB COOKIES DOES NOT ALLOW THAT TO BE DONE.SO, PLEASE ACCEPT MY CONDITION.SO ADVISE ME ON WHICH PAYMENT YOU PREFER VIA CREDIT CARD(MASTER OR VISA)AND WHICH SHIPPMENT YOU PREFER VIA DHL, FEDEX OR UPS.HOPE TO HEAR FROM YOU SOONEST.
THANKS,
REGARDS..... ALLEN
If you have received a scam email, do not reply, they have not normally targeted you personally. If you wish to you can cause them some inconvenience by forwarding a copy of the email to the Internet Service Provider from where the email originated in the following format.
For example:-
abuse@hotmail.com
abuse@yahoo
abuse@compuserve.com
If you access a website you believe to be in some way bogus, again, do not follow the guidance it provides. |