August 10, 2010
Fraudulent Checks
The phenomenon of check cashing fraud increases in frequency every day, and authorities have a hard time curbing it. Now that copy machines are more available and print at a higher quality than ever, scam artists have no problem with creating a phony check and copy it. Counterfeit checks are typically used on ad sites, international Internet sales, or businesses that are based out of someone’s home for the most part.
Identification of a check cashing fraud is fairly easy in that one will be asked to deposit a check through their banking account for a larger amount that required then to forward the extra cash via Western Union or some other money transfer site. This can be advertised as a work at home job, rental, or the sale of an item or service.
For the most part, you can’t really tell it’s a fake check until the bank can verify it to be counterfeit, which doesn’t happen until it’s deposited, and you can’t contact the other person. Since international funds often get held for a long while, you can deposit a number of checks and withdraw cash without anyone being the wiser until the week or so it takes to verify the check.
Those who defraud others using bank accounts are very creative when it comes to accessing information. Once money is sent through a money transfer site, much personal information is shared which can be utilized to create counterfeit forms of identification as well as banking information which can be used to clean out an account.
As mentioned one of the most common bilks today is for the working at home ads. Many times people are asked to deposit company checks for companies working internationally, take out 10% for their share, and return the rest. One is even called WalMart, INC., but is not associated with the Walmart stores most have come to know. A few other popular channels for contact include Careerbuilder.com, Gadgets Ltd., as well as Craiglist so trust nothing unless it has been checked out thoroughly.
Check fraud is used all too often today online. There are many instances of people being contacted with the promise of money that they’ve either won or inherited, which is part of the scam. They then receive a cashier’s check or money order that’s supposed to be more than their allotted amount of money. The scammer asks them to deposit the check, take their share, and use wire transfer to return the rest.
The con artist’s objective in a check cashing scam, is to gain vital information from a bank, that will allow them to access the bank account and withdraw all funds, while simultaneously convincing their innocent target to accept counterfeit checks in exchange for cash. You can protect yourself from check cashing fraud by being able to identify people calling you through the use of telephone look up services such as true-phone-lookup.info/818/318/, so that you can know who is behind that call or check.
There is an agency known as World Law Direct, who handle cases of international check cashing fraud, so if you fear that you may be a victim of this crime, you may contact this unit, but their response time may be up to several years. And, after waiting for justice, you will likely find that none of your money will be returned.
To learn more about telephone look ups that help prevent frauds, go to true-phone-lookup.info/972/474/
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