Keene Young Professionals Network

As a local community bank, we process thousands of checks daily, unfortunately some of those checks are returned to us, and then back to our customers, due to a variety of reasons. One of the most difficult situations to collect funds involves a returned check from a check scam.

What is a check scam? Literally it is a situation where someone wants you to deposit or cash their check and then give them back guaranteed funds in the form of a bank check, wire or personal check that they can quickly cash. In exchange for their worthless check, you give them a good one. By the time the bank and you recognize what has happened, the scammer is long gone with your money!

As we head into Winter, with the state of our current economy and the huge rise in oil prices, most people will be stretching every penny. Scam artists are going to take advantage of this opportunity to target people, especially seniors, to try and rope them into check fraud schemes.

As a banker, I see counterfeit checks and hear about fraudulent activity all the time. Not only should you be on the lookout for these schemes for yourselves, but for any of your relatives and parents.

I can't tell you how many times I've pleaded with with people - not to send a wire because I knew it was fraud.

I've seen customers come in with counterfeit checks that they received for an item someone purchased from them on eBay.
I've seen customers come in to withdraw cash so they would Western Union a payment to someone in Canada to pay for the armored car to bring them their lottery winnings.
Just yesterday a customer came in with a counterfeit check that someone sent him to pay for an apartment that he had advertised online as available. The only catch with this one, was they needed him to Western Union some money back to the sender so she could purchase a car to move here.

How can you avoid check scams? To follow are a few simple tips that may help you recognize and deter someone who is attempting to scam you:

• Recognize the scam before it begins. It can start with someone offering to buy something you advertised for sale, pay you to do work, give you an “advance” on a sweepstakes you’ve supposedly won or pay you for the first installment on the millions that you’ll receive for agreeing to have money transferred to your bank for safekeeping. Whatever the pitch, beware!

• They ask you to wire money to them after you’ve deposited their check. Whatever situation they claim to have, eventually they will ask you to send them money after depositing their check. This may be in the form of an overpayment or for a claimed “mistake” for the amount they wrote the check.

• The checks they send you are fake, but look very real. Beware that the checks that are sent to you look so real that even bank tellers may be fooled. Some are look alike cashiers checks and others look like they are from a legitimate business account.

• You are responsible for the checks you deposit. Under federal law, banks have to make the funds you deposit available to you quickly ---- usually within one to five days, depending upon the situation. However, just because you can withdraw the money doesn’t mean the check is good and you are responsible for the checks you deposit. When a check is returned, the bank deducts the amount that was originally credited to your deposit account. If there isn’t enough money in the account to cover the returned check, the bank may be able to take money from other accounts you have at that institution, or sue you to recover the funds. In some cases, law enforcement authorities could bring charges against the victims because it may look like they were involved in the scam and knew the check was counterfeit.

Should you receive a check through a situation as described above, know you are part of a scam and should not deposit the check or send any money to the party who is requesting it. Protect yourself by avoiding fake check scams!

If you are not sure if you are part of a scam, ask your banker, explain the situation, we are here to help protect you and your money. My rule of thumb is: If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Scratch that, if it sounds too good to be true, I guarantee you it is!

Bryan Cole
Personal Banker
Connecticut River Bank, NA
Phone: 603-357-1619