A Twentynine Palms woman fell victim to a fake check scam. She was selling a coffee table online when the scammer “bought” it and sent her a check for more than $1500 over the cost of the table. The victim was told to cash the check, and wire the remaining funds to another person who would arrange for “movers” to send the table to New York. Needless to say, the transaction was a scam and the Twentynine Palms resident is out a lot of money. Ernest Figueroa offers these tips on how to avoid falling victim to a scam like this…
The scams typically involve sending victims a check, asking them to deposit it, and then when cleared, asking them to immediately wire the money to a third party. Don’t accept a check for more than the selling price. You can bet it’s a scam.
Never use money from a check to send gift cards or money orders, and never wire money to strangers or someone you just met. Many scammers demand that you send money through money transfer services like Western Union or MoneyGram, or buy gift cards and send them the PIN numbers. Once you wire money, or give someone the gift card PINs, it is like giving someone cash. It’s almost impossible to get it back.
https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/how-spot-avoid-and-report-fake-check-scams
