Interesting start of what smells like a scam...somehow....

[lothar]

Tell them "I want to receive the laptops first before I cash the check."

If they actually send the laptops to you, refuse delivery of it.
Tell them you never received it and ask them to send them again.

 

[Turin39789]

Putting a scammer's check into a checking account is the wrong way to play this....the bank will want their money back when it bounces as the account it's drawn upon probably doesn't exist and you'd get hit with an overdraft fee on top of that. That's why I wondered about one of those "we take 25% of the check's face value to cash it" check cashing places.

Heck, I could print up any sort of check you'd like...check printing software abounds and all you'd need is a good routing number for a bank.

Cashing bad checks is........ bad idea.

 

[Kev]

you should definitely continue to mess with them. Messing with scammers is one of my favorite things to do.

 

[rasczak]

Do NOT cash the check. It's not worth the hassle. The smart play would be to not mess around at all with this and move on to the next job.

 

[AstroManLuca]

Not putting a space after a period or comma = scam.

Seriously. They all do this and almost no one else does.

 

[AndroidVageta]

DO NOT CASH THE CHECK!!! THIS IS CONSIDERED FRAUD AND YOU WILL BE ARRESTED!!!

My mom did this...got mixed up in a scam and she didnt know (I had no idea about this)...she went to cash the checks at a check cashing place and was put under arrest. She was in jail for a year because of this. I am not kidding. I am NOT kidding. She was charged with fraudulent checks and some other stuff.

Scams like this because of the fact they are so well known by many today are not taken lightly...it would so blatantly appear that the government expects everyone to know about this stuff and if you are caught participating in these scams and fake checks, even if you really didnt know they were scams, you WILL be charged and prosecuted as if you printed and made the checks yourself.

DO NOT PLAY AROUND WITH THIS STUFF...THERE ARE SERIOUS CONSEQUENCES TO YOUR ACTIONS WHEN IT COMES TO ONLINE SCAMS!

 

[bas1c]

Dunno, that actually sounds pretty legit. The way I distinguish spam/scam is how generic they are, whereas this is a specific reply to you. Furthermore, you will be receiving payment so I don't see how he can scam you (he has to send you the laptops and you can withhold return of laptops until after receiving partial payment or through other means).

Wrong. Any time they say they are out of the country or not at their normal residence, it should raise red flags. This particular scam attempt will lead to them sending him a money order, or something like that, that is far more than what his estimates are. He will tell him to cash the money order/check and keep his portion and send the rest back to him.

 

[CPA]

I do love the "save cost on check stock" crap.

I busted out laughing when I saw that too. What cost? $.001?

 

[kranky]

Well, if you knew for a fact you could physically identify the scammer, then the Holder in Due Course legal doctrine might prove interesting.

 

[EagleKeeper]

Tell them to wire you the funds and you will forward the difference as requested

 

[DrPizza]

Something I've been advocating for a couple of years. Fuck with the scammers. Waste their time & more importantly, waste their money. If everyone said "yes," Hell, if even half of the people they send this crap to say "yes," then they'd lose money. I assume it costs them 47 cents (or whatever the current price of a stamp is) to send the check in the mail. You know that their success rate right now has to be less than 1 percent - that is, less than 1 percent of the people they make an offer to actually respond to them. And of those, apparently the percent of idiots is high enough for the scammers to make a significant profit. But, if we can tip the scale the other way - they spend more sending these fraudulent checks through the mail than they ever receive, they stop. Hell, it even supports the post office at the same time.


So, Meghan, I suggest saying "okay." When they ask "where's the money," the answer is "I didn't receive the check yet." If you receive a second check, when they contact you again, your response is "wtf are you trying to pull? The police and post master were interrogating me, accusing me of mail fraud."

That's nearly $1.00 out of their pocket, plus the $.01 to print the fake or stolen check, as well as a chunk of their time.

p.s. Don't use your real name. I thought it was hilarious when Mr. Ramone Llama received his own correspondence. (Ramone is one of my llamas.) And, as everyone knows, Slate Brook Farm is obviously a subsidiary of State Farm.

 

[DrPizza]

Tell them to wire you the funds and you will forward the difference as requested

Tell them, "my bank said they would only cash it for me if I had an account there. I asked if I could open an account using the check, but they said I had to use cash to start the account. Could you wire me $20 to open my account? That way I'd be able to wire you back the $xxxx about 5 minutes later because the Western Union is across the street from my bank.

 

[Kev]

Something I've been advocating for a couple of years. Fuck with the scammers. Waste their time & more importantly, waste their money. If everyone said "yes," Hell, if even half of the people they send this crap to say "yes," then they'd lose money. I assume it costs them 47 cents (or whatever the current price of a stamp is) to send the check in the mail. You know that their success rate right now has to be less than 1 percent - that is, less than 1 percent of the people they make an offer to actually respond to them. And of those, apparently the percent of idiots is high enough for the scammers to make a significant profit. But, if we can tip the scale the other way - they spend more sending these fraudulent checks through the mail than they ever receive, they stop. Hell, it even supports the post office at the same time.


So, Meghan, I suggest saying "okay." When they ask "where's the money," the answer is "I didn't receive the check yet." If you receive a second check, when they contact you again, your response is "wtf are you trying to pull? The police and post master were interrogating me, accusing me of mail fraud."

That's nearly $1.00 out of their pocket, plus the $.01 to print the fake or stolen check, as well as a chunk of their time.

p.s. Don't use your real name. I thought it was hilarious when Mr. Ramone Llama received his own correspondence. (Ramone is one of my llamas.) And, as everyone knows, Slate Brook Farm is obviously a subsidiary of State Farm.

http://www.419eater.com/

hours of entertainment