So I think I just helped prevent someone from getting scammed

Legendary

Diamond Member
Jan 22, 2002
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A woman just came into the bank with a $2800 cashier's check - she stepped up to my window and the first thing she said was "Does this check look real to you?" Now at first glance, this check looks like every other check - routing numbers on the bottom, a payee, proper date, the whole 9 yards, so to speak. It even has the proper magnetic ink to go through a check scanner. Then she tells me her story:

She's selling a used car through the newspaper - I (and she) live in Rockland county, a suburb of NYC. She tells me that someone called her and offered her the standard 419 deal - she got a check, overnighted, for $2800 - she was selling her car for $1500. The kicker is that the check came in a Canadian shipping envelope. So I take her check and Google the routing number, and bam, instantly counterfeit check warning websites come up - it's a Comerica Bank Cashier's Check, but it's not even close to what they're supposed to look like. So I tell her that, and she thanks me profusely and goes on her way to call Comerica to ask them what to do (basically to get the proper place to hand in the check.)

Anyway, I feel like I've done my good deed for the day. I await a storm of cookies from the sky.
Moral: If you think about it for more than 2 seconds, you should never be taken by a 419 scam.

Cliffs: Woman comes in with Cashier's check for $2800, asks if it looks fake.
She's right, Google agrees, despite real looking like a real check.
Give me a cookie.
 

Originally posted by: CondorHero
how did you exaclty save her? was she supposed to give the guy back the money?
She was going to cash the check for $1500 and send the guy back the extra $1300. Then, two weeks later when her bank finds out the check was counterfeit, all the money will be withdrawn from her account and she won't have a car anymore.
 

Legendary

Diamond Member
Jan 22, 2002
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Originally posted by: kermalou
you can google a routing number?

Well, I figured if it was a known counterfeit, that would be the most likely information to find on the net.

Originally posted by: jumpr
Originally posted by: CondorHero
how did you exaclty save her? was she supposed to give the guy back the money?
She was going to cash the check for $1500 and send the guy back the extra $1300. Then, two weeks later when her bank finds out the check was counterfeit, all the money will be withdrawn from her account and she won't have a car anymore.

Exactly.
 

zebano

Diamond Member
Jun 15, 2005
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Originally posted by: FleshLight
Originally posted by: CondorHero
how did you exaclty save her? was she supposed to give the guy back the money?

No, he gets the car. The check bounces.

No, typically the story is something like this. My son needs a car, can you hang onto it until **date 2 weeks in future**) when he can come pick it up. Just send me a refund for the differnce. You send the guy a refund. No one picks up the car (making it harder to track the scammer), bank finds out its a fake and nails you for the full amount.