Cashier check scam

Hi everyone. I am in dire need of a rant, so I'm going to subject all you wonderful people to my ramblings.

We have a close friend of the family staying with us, and he has been looking for more employment via Craigslist. While I understand that sometimes this works out wonderfully, I am still leery about dealing with that site for anything. He tells us about this "awesome opportunity" that he has. A man in London will have his financier in Texas send my friend a cashier's check for $2,500.00. My friend is to cash it, keep $600.00 for himself, and with the rest, rent a house, do repairs, and stock it with food.

We tried to tell him "This is a scam, don't fall for it." He ignored us. Fast forward a week and a half to today. He wakes us up waving a check around. Immediate red flags pop up:

1) The check is for a lesser amount than he was told (Not that I would cash it anyway)
2) His name is slightly misspelled.

We tried and tried to convince him to not cash it, but he refused to listen. He is currently angry, telling us "Don' expect me home tonight", and on his way to the bank to cash it. At this point, I am washing my hands of the situation. I warned him of the consequences, was in fact looking it up when he looked me in the eye and said "Don't trust everything on the internet". I just looked at him, flabbergasted.

He's my friend, I don't want to see him hurt, broke, or worse, in jail. At this point, he won't listen to us, won't even answer his cell. So, he's an adult, a very naive, overly trusting one, but an adult regardless. He can make his own decisions.

Thanks for reading :). I am interested in hearing your thoughts, so feel free to chime in. Maybe you can offer up an idea I haven't thought of yet.

Rick

Some people choose to learn the hard way.

Some people never learn.

Time will tell which of those two categories he falls into.

This is absolutely a scam.

A friend of mine had a daughter get scammed on checks as well. A guy asked her to cash it for him...turned out he was a major scammer and had hit multiple women with it before.

They take advantage of the fact that even when a bank says a check has cleared, the funds have not necessarily been affirmed with the issuing bank. Once it comes back that the money isn't there to be transferred, the person cashing the check is responsible for the money. The girl I mentioned lost 2k and is now in court proceedings with the bank.

I'm sorry your friend won't listen. I know that kind of situation sucks. :(

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They say one is born ever minute..... Well it looks like they may have found one.... Sorry that your friend won't listen....

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MissDizzyBee

This is absolutely a scam.

A friend of mine had a daughter get scammed on checks as well. A guy asked her to cash it for him...turned out he was a major scammer and had hit multiple women with it before.

They take advantage of the fact that even when a bank says a check has cleared, the funds have not necessarily been affirmed with the issuing bank. Once it comes back that the money isn't there to be transferred, the person cashing the check is responsible for the money. The girl I mentioned lost 2k and is now in court proceedings with the bank.

I'm sorry your friend won't listen. I know that kind of situation sucks. :(

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Thanks :) I've read countless examples recently and over the years about this sort of thing. An elderly woman in my hometown fell for something similar last year. It breaks my heart but I don't see us being able to change his mind.

everyone else hit it the nail dead on...
personally, i dont trust anything/anyone when it comes to money simply because i cant afford to.
i hate to imply this about your friend but seriously man...
ya cant fix stupid.
if he's too hard headed and stubborn to hear you then he's gonna have to deal with the consequences when they bite him in the butt, just dont let yourself get suckered into bailing him out when that happens cuz this has to be a lesson he needs to learn on his own if he's gonna put himself in this kind of situation.
the hardest thing your gonna have to do at that point when he comes crying for help is to put your hands up and say "sorry, i tried to tell you but you didnt listen."
he might hate you for it and you might lose him as a friend but honestly i think i'd rather lose a friend then let one drag me through their mess cuz they wouldnt listen to warnings and went and got themselves into trouble.
tough love sucks but it's neccessary for those who dont listen to reason.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mommanessy247

everyone else hit it the nail dead on...
personally, i dont trust anything/anyone when it comes to money simply because i cant afford to.
i hate to imply this about your friend but seriously man...
ya cant fix stupid.
if he's too hard headed and stubborn to hear you then he's gonna have to deal with the consequences when they bite him in the butt, just dont let yourself get suckered into bailing him out when that happens cuz this has to be a lesson he needs to learn on his own if he's gonna put himself in this kind of situation.
the hardest thing your gonna have to do at that point when he comes crying for help is to put your hands up and say "sorry, i tried to tell you but you didnt listen."
he might hate you for it and you might lose him as a friend but honestly i think i'd rather lose a friend then let one drag me through their mess cuz they wouldnt listen to warnings and went and got themselves into trouble.
tough love sucks but it's neccessary for those who dont listen to reason.

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Yeah I guess he's changed his mind, still hasn't come back though, so I dunno. My better half told him that if he gets in trouble we can't help him.

WOW! Not a bright guy...:colbert: Everything about that sounds like BS.

I work for the police dept, and I can't tell you how many people fall for this crap. I don't understand how anyone can fall for it, no offense (I know he's your friend...but that is SO dumb). Guess what, when he reports it to the police, there is NOTHING we can do for them....just so you know.

He took it to a nearby bank and discussed it with them. They confirmed that while the check is real, it was drawn on an account that did not authorize the check. He had them shred it and he came home, tail between his legs apologizing. He now realizes that we were right, looking out for him. Maybe, hopefully, this is a lesson learned and he'll be a little more world-wise in the future. Like I said, he's a great guy, just naive.

If it sounds too good to be true, it always is.

Good thing you at least were able to plant the suspicion in his mind for him to follow up on. I'm glad it turned out ok.

On a related note, are there any temp agencies around he may try? The ones around here often have short day or weekend jobs for people to take while they wait for a longer term one.

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awesome that nothing bad happened. :gj:
i've learned a few lessons about life, this world and the people in it. although gladly not one like these scamming situations. i'm just too paranoid to get scammed i think.
i doubt everything and question every situation to pieces.

Working at a bank I've seen this happen to many people. What part of "cash this check and keep $600 for you" doesn't sound too good to be true. If it wasn't a shady scam, why wouldn't that person have his financer cash the check for him. Not to be mean, but if someone lacks that much common sense I can see why he is having trouble finding work. NOTHING in life is free, and I'm sorry but I have no sympathy for ignorance.

Moral of the story, if you can still talk him out of it, tell him collections people will be down his throat. I've directly seen it happen to a number of people, so.... good luck with him.

Edit: Glad it worked out ok for him.