What you need to know about check fraud

You’re probably aware of the numerous ways scammers try to con money out of victims through the Internet. What you may not know, though, is that in the past few months many scammers have started to resort to an older tactic—check fraud.

How Check Fraud Works

The way most check fraud works is that scammers give their victims a fraudulent check to cash, then disappear with the money before either the financial institution that cashed the check or the victim realizes something is amiss.

Of course, scammers aren’t going to simply hand you a fake check and ask that you cash it for them. Instead, they’ll let you know you’ve won a prize and send you a check with the prize money, but then ask that you wire them money back to cover the taxes or fees they incurred. They might also send you a check as a way of buying an item online, only to massively overpay you and request that you send back the money that they overpaid.

 

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