10 Insights on This Popular Craigslist Property Listings and Check Scam
AUTHOR: Dolores Quintana
While looking for work, a commenter on a famous Internet forum found a job listing online. It seemed like a good idea until their employer suddenly sent an extensive check, $7,000, early on in their employment.
There were also other disturbing inconsistencies with the job, the caller claimed to be from Arizona, but their caller ID was in Oakland, California, and the scammer was pressuring the person repeatedly. This person was puzzled and didn’t know what to do, so they asked their fellow forum members for help.
1. A Standard Scam
Almost instantly, a concerned poster responded, “It’s a common fake check scam. The scammer did not send you money – just a check that will bounce AFTER you send the scammer your cash.
Immediately ghost the scammer – not one more message sent to them, nothing whatsoever. Do NOT deposit the fake check – if you do, the bank may think you are attempting to defraud them.”
2. Fraud Through The Mail
This contributor made an interesting point: “If the check came through the US Mail, it could be dropped off at a post office for the inspectors, investigators, or someone. I did so because I didn’t want a fake check around.”
3. An Important Distinction
A wise individual brought up the Federal law on the subject, The Expedited Funds Availability Act, which made it possible for us all to receive funds from checks within a reasonable time rather than waiting for the entire process to end. More than one person made the point that there is a difference between a check clearing and a check being valid.
They noted, “That’s the clearing process. The check has not cleared when the funds are released; Federal law in the United States (The Expedited Funds Availability Act) mandates that funds be made available within a specified timeframe. The difference between that timeframe and the time it takes for a check to complete the clearinghouse process allows these scams to work.”
Another person said, “The account owner has months to notice and reverse the transaction. Cashier’s checks are faster to notice counterfeit but more likely to be fraudulent.”
4. Whoops, I Made A Mistake
Sometimes these fraudsters claim to have made an error in the check amount as one poster stated, “Oh no, it wasn’t supposed to be for $7000, send some back!” Then the check will bounce, but OP will have already sent money through instant transfer, and the scammer runs away with it.”
5. Fake Check, Fake Charities
One of the differences in this particular scam is that the boss told the employee that they could donate some of the money to charity. A point made by this commenter highlights that this could be just another part of the scam. “The ‘Charities’ could be online portals that the scammer controls, so when they donate online, it just goes right to the scammer.
Or they say, ‘Hey, Red Cross can only take donations as Roblox Gift Cards (lol), buy some and put the card numbers in this online portal (or send them to me so I can “donate” them), either would be my bet.”
6. Scammers Don’t Limit Themselves
This scam takes many different forms. One post stated that the swindlers could use job scams and payment scams. It’s important to note that not every one of these scams is the same. Still, the bottom line is always the same, you receive a check, online or in real life, you deposit the bank draft, and then the scammer asks for some or all of the money back, sometimes with gift cards, Western Union transfers, or other methods of payment.”
7. Using The System
These con artists frequently use the financial system and how banks work to pull off their scams. This comment underlined an essential part of this situation, “Scammers rely on the fact that banks are required to give you at least some money before the check clears the system entirely. Ergo, they rely on you thinking that the check has cleared when, in fact, the bank will cancel any supposed money you think is going into your account.”
8. A Scam Within A Scam
Interestingly, the original poster said, “I didn’t use this particular website, but somehow it got posted there, and I had a random person message me saying they were interested to see one of the properties. I immediately let the scammer know, and the interested party saw the property the next day, but the scammer said they thought the property was too small for them. I have no idea if it is a true story or if it was just a scammer’s way of making the job look real and that I’m working.”
One of the other forum members warned of another way that the scammer might be using them to continue to perpetrate fraud, “The scammer could also be using you as a mule for fake rental scams.
They advertise rentals (of properties they don’t own) and tell victims to check out the property from the outside. If the victim likes the property, the scammer produces a lease, collects a deposit, and claims they will mail the key. Then they take the deposit and vanish. If they used you to list properties, they have to make up an excuse for why the contact rejected the property so that you don’t take down the listing.”
9. It Would Be Best if You Ignored Silly Threats
Swindlers need to put more thought into their threats. They are frequently in different countries and might not know which government agencies exist within your jurisdiction, so they will sometimes use international agencies as part of a threat to unnerve you. This forum member said, “You can’t report people to Interpol.
It’s just a service police agencies use to coordinate with agencies in other countries. It’s like getting a bad product from a store and then threatening to report them to the World Trade Organization.”
10. One Last Tip
A brilliant person warned the original poster to remove the listings that they did post to save themselves some potential trouble and to keep others from being scammed. They said, “Did you remove the property listings? If you didn’t, do it now!” One other individual marveled at the potential levels of a simple con.
“I never thought about the levels of outsourcing that might be happening tho. But of course, why wouldn’t you have a scam inside your scam? (Insert relevant Xzibit meme).”
This thread brought you this post.
This originally appeared on AmmarRangwala.com.
Ammar has started several online businesses and is a blogger who loves providing quality content to help others. He is involved with affiliate marketing, domain names, NFTs, and cryptocurrencies. Check out my blog if you want to learn more about these areas and business in general.
