Is this a scam?
Someone sent my wife a $3500 check from south africa with a letter stating I won a $900,000 drawing. They said the 3500 is to cover the taxes. They want me to cash the check and they will make arrangements to give me the money. Is there any way this can be a scam? Would I be liable for this? How would they make money off of me cashing this?
Credit - 10 Answers
Random Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
1 :
Don't deposit the check. It's no good. Tear up the letter etc.
2 :
It is a SCAM and let me explain it to you, since it happened to me and I investigated it. The check you got is from a real company (stolen info). You will cash the check, and you will get the cash. Then the company overseas want you to take that "free money" and wire it to them. They say you will soon get your big lottery winnings. OK, so here is what will happen to you for real. The bank in which you cashed that "real" check from will send you a letter telling you there were insufficient funds
3 :
Total scam. They'll ask you to cash the check and give them the money asap. Meanwhile, the check bounces and you are responsible for that, plus any charges your bank may have due to the fraudulent check.
4 :
Scam! for sure you did not enter a drawing so how san you win one?
5 :
Of course it's a scam. When you deposit the check, you will be instructed to wire them some money to process your winnings. Of course, you will never see the winnings, and that $3500 check will eventually be returned to you as invalid.
6 :
Jill S. is totally right. This scam was just on Oprah. The girl even went to her bank to make sure it was a legitimate check and they said it was. Low and behold the check’s fraudulent and this single mother is out of a ton of money. There’s nothing you can do so just trash it!
7 :
DON"T DO IT, yes it is a scam, the check will not clear the bank and you will be liable. My company had 15 of these checks presented to our bank. The check is fraudulent. It is a very popular scam, they are hoping the check clears your account before it bounces back. For some reason they use the $3,500 amount all the time.
8 :
my Advice: Don't deal with anyone from a foreign country or Accept checks from strangers and never use wire/bank transfer services.. you risk losing your $$ and your mind.
9 :
Scam!! If you deposit that check your bank could possibly tell you that it is a fraudulent account. and although they may not press charges they will close your account and charge you a processing fee for closing it. Don't do anything with it except throw it away or give it to the cops. IF you want to verify call the bank its drawn of off and ask them to verify it is a valid check. the same thing happened to my sister and she deposited it in her bank of America checking account which she had for 10 years and they closed her account as soon as the other bank sent the check back even though she never even had so much as a negative balance the bank was of no help to her and instead of treating her like the victim she was they treated her like she stole the check. Even though she brought them the letter and that was a united states check
10 :
Yes it's a scam. Yes you would be liable - to you bank eventually. They make money off of you: 1) because you end up paying them something drawn on a bad check. 2) you have also told them all you bank account information to do with what they please.
