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I'm in contact with an individual who wants to send me money. I'm wary about this so I decided to ask here.

He wants to email me a photo of a check and for me to use that to deposit money into my account. I don't plan to click any links and I'm going to mouse over every link to double check. He hasn't asked for any personal details (SSN, etc.), only for my email address. I haven't received the picture yet so that's all the information I have.

Does this sound suspicious? I have an inkling it might be a scam but decided to see it through a little farther.

UPDATE: They want me to deposit the check and send them a picture of the deposit confirmation. Off the top of my head I seem to remember having that contain some sensitive information.

Bob Baerker
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Colton Paeper
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    What do they get in return for their money? – Philipp Jul 30 '19 at 08:24
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    How "not quite a stranger" is this person? – RonJohn Jul 30 '19 at 12:29
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    Agree with @RonJohn. When you say "not quite a stranger" do yo mean "I've been talking to him online for a few months" or do you mean "he's a guy I've met in person but don't know all that well"? I agree with others that this sounds like a pretty straightforward scam, but if you actually know the guy (and have corroborating evidence of his identity other than stuff he's given you) then that changes the picture a bit. Could still be a scam, but it changes the picture. – Steve-O Jul 30 '19 at 13:38
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    "They haven't asked for any crucial details (SSN, etc.), only for my email address" - how did you meet this fraudster^h^h^h^h^h^h^h^h^h person? – Mawg says reinstate Monica Jul 31 '19 at 07:10
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    "I'm in contact with this individual who wants to send me money. Does this sound suspicious to anyone?" Well, yes. – Mast Jul 31 '19 at 13:17
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    I've encountered variations of this several times over the years. IT'S A SCAM! – AffableAmbler Aug 01 '19 at 00:05
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    Basic Rule Of The Internet #1273: whenever someone says they're going to send you money, it's a scam. This person is going to do everything they can to take advantage of you, your greed, and your naivete. Even if you can't see how this could possibly go wrong, don't worry - the other guy has it all figured out. Yes, yes, we know - you're the smartest guy in the room. Here's the problem - the other guy is in a different room. Delete these emails on sight. It'll save you time, trouble, effort - and above all, it'll save you money. Best of luck. – Bob Jarvis - Слава Україні Aug 01 '19 at 16:13
  • I don't get how it's the 21st century and we still have these incredibly insecure forms of payment called "checks". –  Aug 02 '19 at 05:56
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    @BobJarvis I'm stealing this: "the other guy is in a different room" – MonkeyZeus Aug 09 '19 at 12:26
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    @MonkeyZeus: plagiarism is the sincerest form of flattery :-) – Bob Jarvis - Слава Україні Aug 09 '19 at 12:33
  • What if I just don't send the money back What if they send me the check and I deposited it and don't send them nothing if they ask for it ? – Ianna Dec 07 '20 at 16:27
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    If this were legitimate, they wouldn't need any kind of "deposit confirmation"; they would simply see their own balance go down once you had cashed the check. – chepner Dec 07 '20 at 17:19
  • @Ianna it won't work because the money isn't real. Eventually the check will bounce and you'll have to pay it back, and be charged fees, and depending on the details law enforcement could get involved. – TTT Dec 07 '20 at 21:17

7 Answers7

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The beauty of them sending you the picture is that it is easy for them to send essentially the same picture to several different people. The routing number is legitimate (it will match a banking institution), the account number and name probably is too, but maybe not.

The next step after you prove that the deposit was made, is that they will tell you oops I sent you too much, so please get the money from your bank, and buy them a money order and send it to an address they will give you. After you mail the money order the check image they sent you will bounce.

You will probably find that you violated the terms and conditions related to remote deposit by depositing a check that you never had possession of.

mhoran_psprep
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    The real threat is threefold a) violating your bank's T&C. Let's say you wait for the check to clear before sending back the money. b) It can lead to two scenarios: 1) They claim you stole the check or 2) You discover the check they sent was stolen. c) You just committed a money laundering felony. – Mindwin Remember Monica Jul 31 '19 at 17:47
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No genuine person would need you to prove that you'd deposited the cheque. Depositing a genuine cheque would be overwhelmingly to your advantage, so any genuine person would just take you at your word if you said you'd done it. And if they wanted to be sure, why wouldn't they just look at their own account to see if the money had gone?

David Richerby
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    It's not so much that no genuine person would need you to prove that you've deposited a check as it is trivial for any person to verify a check drawn against their account has been deposited and thus there is no need to ask you to provide proof. There are times I've wanted to be sure a check has been deposited - namely when renting and needing to establish that my end of the transaction has completed and when purchasing a home to ensure I don't have to worry about some last minute gotcha. – iheanyi Aug 01 '19 at 19:51
  • So what I hear you saying is, don't deposit the check, but tell them you did, and offer up some kind of fake "proof" that you deposited it. (If you want to mess with them.) –  Aug 02 '19 at 05:58
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    @Michael If that’s what you think I said, I suggest you brush up on your reading comprehension skills. – David Richerby Aug 02 '19 at 07:55
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What will likely happen after you deposited the scanned check is that the check will bounce after a couple days because it's either not covered or because it is from someone else's account. The money in your account will then go back to where it came from.

But that alone doesn't get the scammer anything. Possible ways the scammer could benefit from this:

  • Scam you out of goods or services. Whatever you expected to get paid for, you don't.
  • Advanced fee fraud. Get you to pay money in order to receive and cash the check.
  • Abusing you as a money mule. After you got the money they ask you to send part of the money back to them in a way which can not be as easily reverted. The check gets reverted but your payment doesn't.
Philipp
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  • you forgot money laundering: OP doesn’t necessarily have to lose money with that, maybe even earns a bit, but unwittingly commits a crime. – dessert Aug 01 '19 at 20:07
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It’s a scam. That will probably develop into an “Advance-fee fraud” once you have bitten the hook.

Advance fee fraud, is a type of fraud in which businesses or individuals are required to pay a fee before receiving promised stocks, services, money, or products, which ultimately are never given. The targets of the fraud receive a solicitation (by letter, fax, or e-mail) from someone who has a free check just for you, which you need to deposit. To ensure this will happen, the recipient of the letter is asked to pay a percentage of the total amount that purportedly will be wired or transferred. But at the end of the day, the transfer never happens.

For more information look up "Advance Fee Fraud"

Community
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Rocky
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  • Correct me if I'm wrong, but a quick Google search made it sound like I pay the person in return for additional money or services. The person wants to send me a check over email. They did not want anything from me first. – Colton Paeper Jul 30 '19 at 00:39
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    Then that's step 2. "I accidentally sent you $2100 instead of $1100. Can you refund me the extra? Sorry about that." – user3757614 Jul 30 '19 at 01:08
  • So I'm assuming then that after you deposit the check and don't return the money, it'll just bounce? – Colton Paeper Jul 30 '19 at 01:10
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    The check's usually (but not always) good, it just comes from someone else's account, and is stolen money. Your part is to launder the money into an untrackable form, then get stuck paying it back once the first person notices. – user3757614 Jul 30 '19 at 01:13
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    One-line answers are prone to deletion. – RonJohn Jul 30 '19 at 12:28
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    @RonJohn If they are, you have a problem on this stack. It's a perfectly correct answer and can be trumped by better answers, but nothing in such an answer warrants a deletion. If you do that, you'll just encourage people to answer in the comment section. – pipe Jul 30 '19 at 20:14
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    Once I wrote a very clear concise 2-line answer on Aviation. Someone said "why is this better than the existing, overtechnical, obtuse answer?" I said "brevity........" – Harper - Reinstate Monica Jul 30 '19 at 20:57
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    @Harper isn't "Google it" (which is exactly what Look up “Advance-fee fraud” means) even worse than a link-only answer? – RonJohn Jul 30 '19 at 21:04
  • @RonJohn I would say so, yes. At the very least it should link to LMGTFY... No JK, you're not allowed to do that here... – Harper - Reinstate Monica Jul 30 '19 at 21:07
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    While this particular answer isn’t very good, the idea of deleting a complete_and_correct answer merely because it lacks unnecessary discussion seems to me a bit silly. – WGroleau Jul 30 '19 at 22:07
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    Do we just need a community wiki question in this stack "What is advanced fee fraud?" and then link to that? Rather than explaining it in each question? – rrauenza Jul 31 '19 at 16:27
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    @RonJohn Link-only answers become useless if the page linked to ceases to exist. By contrast, this answer will always contain the same amount of information it does currently. But it would certainly be better if it included a brief explanation of advance fee fraud. – Ray Jul 31 '19 at 17:44
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    @WGroleau how in the world is "Google 'advance fee fraud'" a complete answer without saying why this is an attempt at AFF? – RonJohn Jul 31 '19 at 17:48
  • @RonJohn, please read my comment again, or at least up to the first comma. – WGroleau Jul 31 '19 at 17:50
  • @WGroleau I only mentioned complete in my comment to you. And since he doesn't explain why this is an example of AFF, how do we know that it's correct? – RonJohn Jul 31 '19 at 17:52
  • I’m remembering all the times I was chastised for an answer that said everything, merely because it was short. I think I made it clear that I was not defending “this particular answer.” – WGroleau Jul 31 '19 at 17:55
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    @RonJohn I'm not trying to defend this answer, but it's a fact that this is a sufficient answer (basically "this is a scam known as advance fee fraud"). Is it a low-quality answer? Probably, and feel free to downvote it if it's the case. But should it be deleted? I'm not sure because there's no valid flag for this answer to get it deleted (Not an answer? But this is an attempt to answer). – Andrew T. Jul 31 '19 at 18:49
  • @WGroleau I've been advised that "single line answers are subject to deletion" isn't actually true. – RonJohn Jul 31 '19 at 19:08
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A picture of a check, like the one they want you to use, IS NOT A SIGNED CHECK. Do not do it!! When law enforcement comes looking for you it will be you that committed wire fraud.

Scooby
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This is a version of the "tutor scam." I'm an Arab Oil sheik or a member of the British royalty and I've sent my 15-year-old son to study in America. He needs a tutor and you come highly recommended. How much would you charge to tutor my son for 2 hours per week for 15 weeks? "Oh...say...$8000." Fine, I'll send you a check for $10,000. My son has a nanny and she doesn't have a US bank account so in order to pay her, I need you to deposit the check and then withdraw $2000 to give to the nanny. She'll be by to pick it in a couple days. "Duh...sounds good. Here you go." Then the check bounces and I'm out $2000.

B. Goddard
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    You refer to both the scammer and the victim as "I". Attempting to defraud yourself could be a sign of low self-esteem or other problems. ;-) – David Richerby Aug 01 '19 at 18:12
  • No, I just transitioned from a conversational narrative to stating my moral. I didn't do it smoothly, but that's what I did. Not that I don't have other problems. – B. Goddard Aug 01 '19 at 18:34
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It isn't their account. It's either cunningly faked to take quite a long time to actually bounce, or it is a real person's account, e.g. Susan Danvers as I describe here.

Asking for the deposit acknowledgement serves no purpose, it is merely theater to test/increase your confidence.

The scam will come later, as they contrive a pretense to have you wire some of the money back to them.

Then it will bounce or be clawed back by Susan Danvers.

Harper - Reinstate Monica
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