In today’s economy many are choosing to open their own businesses. As good of an idea as this is, it is making the market for scammers prime. How can this be? The name of the game is “Money Order Fraud”. The scammer usually resides outside of the United States lines and he or she will send an email or a letter telling you that they would like to send you a money order for your service or in exchange for an item that you are selling.
How is can payment be a bad thing? When you receive the payment for the service or item the money order will be written out in funds that are much larger than you anticipated. The sender then will tell you that his or her secretary has made an error and please send him or her back the change from the money order.
If you comply to their request the money is deposited into your account. You send out the remainder funds to the scam artist in cash, and the bank finds that the money orders were fraudulent within a week. You now are a victim of money order fraud, and are expected to pay the bank back the funds in which you distributed. The only trace you have left of your perpetrator is a fictitious name, address, and email.
These scams artists target online auctions and classified ads, people who work at home, debt collectors, and pleas for help. In addition to finding people through ads or offering you a job working from home they also send spam telling you that they have money stuck in a foreign account and will offer a large percentage if you help them to get it out. Also they may offer a large commission to clear a debt of someone overseas through a debt collector. The debt collector sends the surplus of funds back to the payee only to find that they have been scammed within the week.
A red flag should rise if the correspondent is from a third world country, currently many of these scams are seen coming out of Canada, Europe, or Africa. Unfortunately the types of scams may range vastly or alter from the ones previously mentioned. Fraud for among scammers is an occupation, and the more that they become noticed or the closer we get to catching the perpetrator the more complex their schemes will become in order to detour conviction.
The banks are now closing accounts in which faulty deposits are going into. Just like us they don’t know the extent of which the scammer is capable of. Depositing the money order may open up a gateway for access to your accounts. As a precaution banks are taking severe measures.
There are many things that you can do to protect yourself. The first and foremost step is to be aware. Next make others aware. If you think you are in jeopardy of being victimized do not accept the offer that is being given. Report what is happening through the Federal Bureau of Investigations as soon as possible by visiting their website. If you are unsure you can request that the payee make arrangements to pay you through a United States International Bank. By asking for this you have a better chance of the fraud being detected before the check is cleared.
Works Cited
Larson, A. (2011). Money Order Fraud. Retrieved August 24, 2011, from Expert Law: http://www.expertlaw.com/library/consumer/money-order-fraud.html
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