Is this a scam? Even a “cleared” check is never really cleared

by Joshua Floyd on January 10, 2012

Bob Dolan thought the $1,750 check he received from a stranger had cleared with his bank. He thought wrong — and now he believes he’s been scammed.

Has he?

Here’s the backstory: Dolan’s son wanted to sub-lease his apartment and decided to post it on Craigslist, the popular online classified site.

Soon he was contacted by a young lady named Vera from France who was interested in leasing the apartment for a semester while attending University of Pittsburgh. Dolan was contacted by Vera’s father who agreed to send an $800 security deposit.

The check came – but it was for $1,750.

Dolan explains,

The father claimed that his travel agent in Massachusetts had made a mistake. He requested we send the overage — $950 — back to him.

I offered to send a personal check and be done with it, but he adamantly requested that we wire the money via Western Union.

Dolan wanted to be careful before wiring money.

I deposited the Chase Bank certified check into my personal account, waited 48 hours for the check to “clear” (or so I thought) and then wrote a personal check, cashed it and sent the money via Western Union.

The check ended up being counterfeit – and neither Dolan’s bank nor Western Union are planning to give him anything back.

The money was gone.

Is this a scam? Dolan thinks so, and the Better Business Bureau agrees. It named this check cashing scam one of the top ten scams of 2011.

If this isn’t a scam, then both father and daughter would have stepped forward to fix this. But like the money, they are gone without a trace.

From a consumer advocate perspective, these sorts of transactions should be approached with more diligence. Take the check to the bank personally — no ATM’s. Sit down with a representative and get it sent to the proper people for examination first.

With a little more patience, scrutiny, and common sense, any consumer can avoid getting scammed.

(Photo: im no hero/Flickr)

Tagged as: BBB, cash, check, Scam

  • Daylilydiva

    Yes Bob was scammed, but he asked to be plucked by falling for one of the oldest, most transparent, unbelieveable variations of The Nigerian Bank Scam. As a seller on Craigslist, and a person who lists rental housing on Criagslist, I am inundated with these, at least three or four per rental listing, and usualy one or two for items as small as a $34. nativity set.  It’s always the same, the payment is too large “by mistake” and the pigeon is asked to immediately wire the overage back.  Dolan sadly does not deserve any recompense, he has learned an expensive lesson, but useful lesson.  Craigslist BEGS you in large letters and vivid colors NOT to do this.  What more can Craigslist do?

  • Daylilydiva

    This could have easily been avoided.  First of all do NOT rent to a ternant sight  unseen.  You don’t know who they are and if they are whom they claim to be. Second you want to see them to see how they dress, behave, and to see their car.  if car is knee deep in empty beer cans, fast food wrappers, dirty dispoable diapers, pets, etc., you don’t want that tenant.  You photo copy the potential tenant’s social security card, driver’s license, passport, and check references. If you decide to rent to the person, you get cash for the deposit and first month’s rent delivered to you at your bank and immediately deposit money so  potential tenant can see so that you’re not robbed upon leaving the bank.   This scam had bells and whistles hung on it for warning but Dolan ignored them!

  • Learned the hard way

    I learned the hard way that people who insist on payment via Western Union are invariably scammers. Once a payment is made via Western Union there is no recourse and no real way to track the scammer so that legal action (hard to start with when the perp is outside the country as they usually are in these transactions) is virtually impossible.

  • Ralphie

    Do you even have to ask?  Check to big “by mistake”?  Wire back via Western Union? About the only thing they left out was “Thanks, sucker!”

  • Rachel

    If the check issued to Dolan is a Chase Bank certified check, shouldn’t he then be entitled to some kind of recompense from Chase Bank? Isn’t that the very purpose of a certified check? 

  • Rachel

    If the check issued to Dolan is a Chase Bank certified check, shouldn’t he then be entitled to some kind of recompense from Chase Bank? Isn’t that the very purpose of a certified check? 

  • http://profiles.google.com/leeannewrites LeeAnne Clark

    Wow.  Just…wow.  Wow that Bob and his son fell for this.  Where have they been living – in a cave?  Under a rock?  “Overpayment” check scams are among the most common Nigerian scams in the world.  I suppose they haven’t heard of Justin Bieber either?

    It’s hard to feel sympathy for anyone who basically scams themselves…which is what these guys did.  They blind-wired money to a couple of strangers in another country.  Does it get any dumber than that?

    Anyone attempting to rent out a room, especially using Craigslist should take a brief course in scammery.  There are hundreds of ways to scam people in that venue…but only one way to GET scammed:  be gullible, money-hungry, and willing to blind-wire your hard-earned dough to strangers.  Simple solution:  NEVER USE WESTERN UNION OR MONEY-GRAM.  That right there will wipe out 99% of internet scams.

  • http://profiles.google.com/leeannewrites LeeAnne Clark

    Wow.  Just…wow.  Wow that Bob and his son fell for this.  Where have they been living – in a cave?  Under a rock?  “Overpayment” check scams are among the most common Nigerian scams in the world.  I suppose they haven’t heard of Justin Bieber either?

    It’s hard to feel sympathy for anyone who basically scams themselves…which is what these guys did.  They blind-wired money to a couple of strangers in another country.  Does it get any dumber than that?

    Anyone attempting to rent out a room, especially using Craigslist should take a brief course in scammery.  There are hundreds of ways to scam people in that venue…but only one way to GET scammed:  be gullible, money-hungry, and willing to blind-wire your hard-earned dough to strangers.  Simple solution:  NEVER USE WESTERN UNION OR MONEY-GRAM.  That right there will wipe out 99% of internet scams.

  • Mel65

    Seriously? Someone sends YOU a check but “adamantly insists” that you send them instant wire transfer via Western Union when you offer a check in return and that doesn’t scream SCAM in neon letters? It’s really hard to sympathize a whole lot here when these scams are so blatant and the public has been warned about them time and time. As soon as I read the words “sub-lease” and “Craigslist” I knew where this was going to end.  Unless you’re living in a cave, how could you not know this was going to go horribly horribly wrong?

  • http://profiles.google.com/leeannewrites LeeAnne Clark

    Just because the check appeared to be a “certified check” doesn’t mean it is.  Clearly it was a forgery, and that is not the bank’s fault.  Banks are required by law to make the funds from any deposit “available” within 48 hours — but that doesn’t mean the check has “cleared”.  That can take weeks, especially if it’s a foreign check.  Any bank will explain this to a customer…and your bank can also tell you once a check has actually cleared.

    Anyone doing business on Craig’s List should know this…it’s Craig’s List 101.

  • http://profiles.google.com/leeannewrites LeeAnne Clark

    And yet more reasons to not feel any sympathy for these guys: As soon as you pull up Craigslist you see a link that says “AVOIDING SCAMS AND FRAUDS” in big letters, right at the top, in bold.  Click that, and you see this:

    “You can sidestep would-be scammers by following these common-sense rules:
    DEAL LOCALLY WITH FOLKS YOU CAN MEET IN PERSON – follow this one rule and avoid 99% of scam attempts on craigslist. NEVER WIRE FUNDS VIA WESTERN UNION, MONEYGRAM or any other wire service – anyone who asks you to do so is a scammer. FAKE CASHIER CHECKS & MONEY ORDERS ARE COMMON, and BANKS WILL CASH THEM AND THEN HOLD YOU RESPONSIBLE when the fake is discovered weeks later.”

    Can it get any clearer?

  • Charleyed

    And never wire money via Western Union.  They know that it is a scam, but they won’t tell you.

  • Daylilydiva

    You don’t get it, this is a fake check, has no connection to Chase Bank, IT IS A SCAM.  Just because a fake check says “certified” doesn’t make it a good check.

  • Forawhil

    Overpayment on any deposit is a scam. If you want to catch the “Low Life”, just send $2.00 to Western Union and get WU handle the irate person at the other end of the line. WU security will catch the person.

  • http://profiles.google.com/leeannewrites LeeAnne Clark

    That’s for sure.  Western Union makes a TON of money off these internet scams, and they have no motivation to stop participating.  It’s a multi-million-dollar business model, and they get off scot-free. 

    Did you know that there are Western Union offices set up in certain neighborhoods in Lagos, Nigeria, to support internet cafes that are filled with scammers?  These Western Union offices cater almost exclusively to these scammers, handing out cash to those who managed to con some dolt into wiring it to them.  You think Western Union doesn’t know what’s going on?  Come on.

  • Anonymous

    Bob was scammed, but by the “father” & “daughter”, not by his bank nor by Western Union. unfortunately, he fell for it, and the financial insitutions were just a means to an end, they were not complicit.

  • http://profiles.google.com/leeannewrites LeeAnne Clark

    Wrong.  WU makes no attempt to “catch” scammers.  Are you kidding?  They are making millions off them!  Every time you wire money via WU, you have to pay them a fee.  The person at the other end is likely a Nigerian scammer working in a sweaty, fly-riddled internet cafe in Lagos, going to the local WU office to pick up his ill-gotten gains.  These WU offices in Lagos are a revolving door of scammers picking up cash sent by morons.  What would you expect them to do?

  • midmom8949

    But then, it’s not WU’s responsibility to police users.

  • http://profiles.google.com/leeannewrites LeeAnne Clark

    Flutiefan, I don’t think anybody is suggesting that the bank or Western Union were “complicit” in the scam.  However, as someone who has been involved for years in counseling scam victims and knows a great deal about 419 crime and how it works, I can tell you that Western Union sure isn’t doing much to stop it.  There is WAY more they could be doing.  They choose not to, and in my opinion, that’s because they make money off every transfer.

    Bottom line:  it’s incumbent on everyone to protect THEMSELVES from becoming a victim.  Learn about internet scams…learn how checks work…learn how wiring money works.  Go to http://www.scamwarners.com and read their “Intro to Scams”.  Don’t expect anyone to stop you from becoming a victim. People need to act responsibly when it comes to their money. Internet scams CAN be avoided, with just a little knowledge and common sense.

  • http://twitter.com/ElmoClarity Elmo Clarity

    Unless the laws have changed, a bank can hold the funds up to 5 business days for in state checks and 7 business days for out of state checks.

  • http://profiles.google.com/leeannewrites LeeAnne Clark

    That’s one way to look at it.  But isn’t there some corporate responsibility to ensure that their customers aren’t using their services to either commit a crime, or become victims of one?  It would take so little effort on WU’s part to ensure that people aren’t being scammed.  Posting a few notices in their offices would help – for example, a notice that says “Never send money to repay an overpayment by check!  It’s a scam!” would likely stop a lot of people in their track.  Any education effort on their part would help. 

    Personally I think there should be a checklist that people have to read through before they wire money:

    1.  Do you know the person you are sending money to?
    2.  Is this to repay an overpayment on a check? If so, it’s a SCAM!
    3.  If you are sending money based on having cashed a check, have you checked with your bank to confirm the check cleared? (Just because the funds were made available doesn’t mean the check won’t be determined to be fraudulent down the road.)
    4.  Is this money going to a Prince in a foreign country offering to share millions with you if you pay a fee?
    5.  Is this money going to pay fees for a lottery or other contest?  Note that real lotteries NEVER charge fees.

    …or something like that.

    WU has a very well-designed, comprehensive fraud section on their website, which even includes a detailed description of the overpayment scam.  So they clearly understand how they are being used to commit fraud, and could do more to ensure it doesn’t happen.  Imagine if Bob and his son had looked at a checklist like that before they sent their money…don’t you think that would have made them think twice?

    Then again, some people are so oblivious they’ll do it no matter how many warnings are out there.  Can’t cure stupid, I guess.

  • http://profiles.google.com/leeannewrites LeeAnne Clark

    I think you’re right about the durations…sorry, I got that wrong, and I also believe it can vary by state.  The point is that the banks are required by law to make the funds available within a relatively short period of time – but that doesn’t mean the check has “cleared.”  It can take weeks for a fake check to be found to be fraudulent, when the bank account upon which it was supposedly drawn turns out to either not exist, or not have the funds.  This is especially true for checks drawn on foreign banks.

  • Heyjuan

    This is such an old scam to fall for. I have received 2 of these “certified checks” in the last 4 years, each for $5000 with the sender asking for some funds to be wired back.
    I showed the checks to the bank instead of depositing them. The bank said they were fake.
    End of story.

  • Anonymous

    What do you mean, yes or no as the choices in the poll. The only statement should be OF COURSE!!!

  • http://profiles.google.com/leeannewrites LeeAnne Clark

    I noticed that 1 person voted “no”.  I’ll bet he lives in Nigeria!

  • Heyjuan

    A scam? What would give you that idea?
    Wire me some money too, after I mail you a certified check that I print up.

  • Cashiers vs Certified

    Big difference between certified and cashiers checks. Cashiers checks are drawn on the bank, certified checks mean that at the time of the certification the money was in the account.

    So even if the check is real there are no guarantees that the money is still in the account.

    The lesson? Cash the check in person on the bank it is drawn on…

  • Daylilydiva

    If a genuine check is “certified” by a bank, the bank sets aside that much money in the account to cover the check, so the money will be there.  The problem with the Nigerian Bank Scammers checks is that they are NEVER real checks.  So the words “certified” printed or impressed intothe check mean nothing as the check is a fake. 

  • Anonymous

    This is an old scam. I am surprised that people are still taken in by it.

  • http://profiles.google.com/leeannewrites LeeAnne Clark

    Exactly.  Hey, a good laser-printer can print up what looks like a very authentic 1-million-dollar bill.  That doesn’t mean I have a million bucks.  This is the part that doesn’t seem to get through the people…it’s just a stupid piece of paper with stuff printed on it!  With current print technology, anybody can print up a reasonably real-looking “certified check”.  That doesn’t mean it’s a real certified check that has any connection to any actual money, or even a real bank account.  It’s just worthless piece of paper…worth no more than my 1-million-dollar bill.

  • Anonymous

    Total scam.
    Reminds me of a “reputable” travel agent in Belize that was even endorsed by Conde Nast Traveler. All was well until she demanded Western Union payment. I told her no, I only work by credit card. She got all irritated with me and threatened to “sue” me for the time she put in on my iterinary. I told her I wasn’t buying that anymore since she was probably a scam artist.

    Last I heard, she’s still in business and Conde Nast still has her listed as one of their Belize Experts.

    Gross.

  • Anonymous

    i felt like Chris was insinuating that the bank or WU were part of the scam, by simple virtue of the story being posted on this blog. perhaps i was wrong.

    i know about the 419 scams, and the Western Union complacency. but just like when a passenger comes to my counter to buy a ticket, i don’t ask if they got their money by legal means, nor do i know if they’re traveling for nefarious reasons. my business is to sell them a ticket, my product. Western Union’s business is to transfer money from 1 place to another. i don’t believe it’s incumbent upon them to find out where/why the money is from nor how it’s being used. 

    i fully agree with you that people need to protect themselves!!! i was looking at renting an apt from Craigslist, and the minute he said “Western Union”, i balked.

  • Poley King

    There’s been a wire scam warning of craigslist for a few years now

  • Carver

    Actually the MTCN by itself isn’t sufficient  to obtain the money without an ID.  WU has ID-less transactions in which you set up a password.  With the password and MTCN the money can be obtained anywhere w/o ID.

  • Anonymous

    People still fall for this?

  • http://profiles.google.com/leeannewrites LeeAnne Clark

    That’s assuming the WU clerk actually asks for ID.  There are hundreds of documented cases in which WU offices in Nigeria and Ghana don’t bother asking for ID.  If someone shows up with an MTCN number, they give them the money.

    But you are correct that both WU and Moneygram also offer the ability to set up a password with the transfer so that you don’t need an ID.  That is a common scenario in 419 scams…the scammer will ask the victim to set up a password when they send the money.  The vics think this actually makes their transfer MORE secure, rather than less…they don’t realize that the password means the money can be picked up without ID, eliminating any chance of finding out who took their money.  And the scammers are ever so creative in their efforts to lull their targets into a false sense of security:  it’s very common for scammers to tell vics to use “God is Good” for the password, because then the vic thinks, Oh, this is a religious guy, he MUST be a good person! 

    You would not believe how many people fall for that.

  • Meredith Putvin

    This is 100% a scam. A quick call to Chase would have revealed the check number either do not exist or those number have already been used. I personally witnessed some attempting to cash money orders acquired in a similar fashion. The Wal-mart (who is an old classmate of mine) went through the extra step of calling Moneygram and verifying each and every money order the woman was attempting to cash was fraudulent. When the woman went to dispute it and relayed her story I turned around and told her point blank “This is a Nigerian scam.”

  • http://twitter.com/Spyvie Spyvie Locust

    Subleasing an apartment seems kind of fishy to me, at least it would be in my state. Maybe that plan combined with the almost willful ignorance displayed here makes the one time loss of less than $1000 relatively appropriate.

    As an aside, I’m wondering if it might be entertaining to shine some of these scammers on a little. Imagine the frustration and the potential for hostility or even violence that could be fomented by agreeing to the scam’s terms, but instead of sending money, just sending a fictitious WU control number.

  • http://profiles.google.com/leeannewrites LeeAnne Clark

    I encourage you to visit http://www.419eater.com.  There is an entire community of “scambaiters” who spend untold hours wasting scammers’ time chasing after fake victims.  Some of the stories are so hilarious you’ll laugh until you cry!  But then some of the stories of REAL victims will make you cry as well.

  • Carver

    I suspect, but don’t know for a fact, that if the Wu doesn’t write down the ID, you might have have a chance to get the money back.  Might be worth exploring.

  • Carver

    Subleasing an apartment isn’t that unusual if there is a university nearby.  College kids do it all the time, particularly during the summer.

  • http://profiles.google.com/leeannewrites LeeAnne Clark

    Carver, that’s been tried.  I used to work with scam victims, I’ve heard all the sad stories.  WU won’t do anything…once the money is given away, it’s gone.  They don’t keep records of whether or not they viewed the ID – they’ll just response “of course we saw the ID.” 

    Keep in mind, even if they DO present an ID, it’s often fake.  The scammer will give the vic a name to transfer the money to, then present a fake ID at WU to pick it up.  Fake IDs in Nigeria are very simple to make.

    And to make matters worse, even if the scammer happens to use their real name and ID…that doesn’t help either!  WU’s not going to go hunt them down, and if you think Nigerian law enforcement will help, you are sadly mistaken.  They’re just some nobody scumbag scammer living in a dusty village outside of Lagos, busing into a fly-riddled internet cafe every day to ply their trade.  This is what they do for a living…there are thousands of them, they proliferate like cockroaches.  It doesn’t take a lot of money to live like a king in Nigeria – one dopey vic sends them a couple thou, and they’re set for months.  And some of these scammers make tens of thousands a year, and drive around in Mercedes!

    It’s a well-known, quite well-respected profession in some areas of West Africa. 

  • http://twitter.com/Spyvie Spyvie Locust

    Thanks for the link. That’s entertainment!

  • Aaron Gold

    Top ten scams of 2011? How about the top ten scams of 1911? This is a very old scam and I can’t believe he didn’t just tell the “renter” to send another check.

  • Anonymous

    It’s a typical scam.  They send you excessive money then they ask you to send the difference back.  Should’ve ask them to resend the proper amount.  Large checks can take up to two weeks to clear which I don’t understand in the first place.  With today’s electronic age, banks should be able to clear a check within minutes!

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_OEPJGQPIEB75YYDE5CJY6R3VFE Carver Clark Farrow II

    A check written on a foreign bank doesn’t necessarily go through the Automatic Clearing House but must be physically presented for cashing.  Accordingly, it can take upwards of six weeks to clear.

  • Heather

    Wow, one negative post and all of a sudden a whole flock of know it all, idiots with no compassion comes out of the woodwork. My daughter, 20 years old and 8 months preg was just scammed like this for 2400.00. He texted her and everything about a babysitting ad she posted on Facebook. Many emails and texts later she was scammed. Now my daughter is making payments to the bank. Stop acting like you’re perfect and so wise and the victims are dumb because God forbid this happens to your child. Grow up and don’t be so heartless!! Most of these postings are an embarrassment and disgrace to mankind.

  • Danielle

    I had a friend this happened to. She sold her car to a guy in FL on craigslist. A day or two later he said he had an emergency and needed the money back, could she please western union it to him. She did. The check was a fake. She’s still fighting her bank.

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