Stay safe from scams at the holidays

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Fraudulent Classified Ads or Auction Sales




Gift Card Scam

Phishing and Smishing Schemes



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Scams and the Holidays

Thanksgiving is just over a week away, and it is time to start thinking about the Holiday Season. We at Scam Victims United usually see an increase in the number of scam victims during this time of year. Many people are looking for a way to make some extra money to pay for the gifts that they want to give to family and friends, so they may sell something they own at an online classified ad site, like Craigslist, or they may look for an extra part-time job. It is because of this need for the extra money to get through the Holidays that some people may let their guard down and become more vulnerable to online scams.

Common online scams include the overpayment scams, in the form of counterfeit cashier’s checks and money orders, or work at home job offers such as the Secret Shopper Scam. Let’s review the signs of both.

Counterfeit Cashier’s check or Money Order Scam

You are selling an item over the Internet – it could be a used car or motorcycle, jewelry or even bred animals. You receive an email offer to purchase your item and the buyer says he’ll send a bank cashier’s check. The buyer is from Nigeria or “West Africa”, but has a business associate in the United States who will send you the cashier’s check. Then you are told that for some reason the check was already made out to you for an amount larger than your asking price. The buyer asks you to please deposit the check, wait for it to clear, and then send him the difference — “but only after the cashier’s check clears, of course.”

You are skeptical – but, sure enough, the bank cashier’s check arrives by Fed Ex, it looks real, your bank accepts the check, and the bank assures you the funds are in fact available. So you wait the time the bank recommends to verify that the check is clear and then you wire the difference to your buyer in Nigeria and prepare to ship your item.

A week later your bank calls: “We’re very sorry, but the cashier’s check was counterfeit” — a superb copy, but worthless. Your account is frozen. You must pay the bank back the entire amount of the cashier’s check. You may even be considered a fraud suspect yourself.

Secret Shopper Scam

The scammer will either place an ad in a legitimate classified listing, online or in print, or they will collect their victim’s names and email addresses off of resumes posted online. Some of them are even making “copy cat” websites of legitimate Secret Shopper companies to use in their scam to help convince the victim that this is all legitimate. For a listing of legitimate Secret Shopper companies, go to

 The victim will be told that they have been hired as a Secret Shopper and will be sent a cashier’s check or money order to cash and use on their assignments. One of the assignments is to review the service at a Western Union or Money Gram location. They are given a name and address to wire money to, from the check that was sent to them, and told to fill out an evaluation form on the service received and email or fax that back to the company they are working for.

Everything seems fine, and some victims may even complete a few “assignments” before the check is discovered to be counterfeit. On average, it takes about 10 business days for the bank to realize that the check is counterfeit, but we have seen some cases where it has taken over 6 months. Once the bank dose find that the check is counterfeit, they will contact you demanding the return of the money and deduct the full amount of the check from your bank account. This sometimes leaves the victims with negative bank accounts.

For more information on the check clearing process and the banking terms, please read

Shawn Mosch

Co-Founder of

There is strength in numbers!

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Check Fraud: Protecting Your Bank and Its Customers


Many of the scams are obvious, but many are presented in such a way that the would-be victim (your customer) is more easily tricked into believing the claims of the fraud artist.

Each presentment of a fraudulent check presents potential problems for 1) the bank of first deposit, 2) the customer presenting the check, and 3) the paying bank. Knowing how to detect and reject bogus checks can protect both your bank and your customers. Knowing how to handle fraudulent checks that make it “under the radar” can save your bank from significant losses.

This program is designed to help your bank recognize the signs of fraudulent check activity. Trained bank personnel can help save gullible customers from themselves by preventing the checks from being deposited. Keeping the customer out of trouble means avoiding problems for your bank, too. Responding appropriately when a fraudulent check is presented for payment or has been charged back to your bank can minimize the losses your bank will suffer.

Upon completion of the program participants will understand:

how Regulation CC helps make counterfeit check fraud “profitable”

how common check fraud scams work

how customer behavior can “red flag” a check scam

physical clues of counterfeit checks

the case for check verification

the arguments against verification

fatal errors in check verification

when a hold can be placed, and for how long

the “reasonable cause” exception hold

why holds often aren’t enough

counterfeits and the “midnight deadline”

how to handle late returns

how local clearinghouse rules may affect you

what NOT to tell a depositor about check clearing

what you MUST try to make customers understand

what to do when fraud is suspected

why customer education is your most effective tool

The program is designed for teller supervisors and trainers, customer contact personnel, and anyone involved in your fraudulent check stop-loss efforts.

Seven years

Seven years ago this month my husband and I became victims of a counterfeit cashier’s check scam while selling his 1961 Buick Special online. So much has happened in those seven years.

We found that we were not alone, and that this was happening to others.
We started our website Scam Victims United to share our story with others.
We spoke out in the news about this issue.
We have worked with Consumer Protection Agencies to help spread the word about scams.
In the first two years of our site being operational, we helped to stop over 2 million dollars from going into the hands of scammers.

We have come a long way, but we still have so far to go. The Consumer Federation of America released the results of a survey in May 2009 which relates directly to information we at Scam Victims United work to educate people about. They found that fifty-nine percent of the respondents incorrectly believe that when you deposit a check or money order, your bank confirms that it is good before allowing you to withdraw the money. The number goes up to 70 percent among young adults age 18-24, and 71 percent of people with incomes under $25,000 and who did not complete high school. More than 40 percent of those surveyed do not know that they are liable if the checks or money orders they deposit or cash are counterfeit. Fifty-two percent age 18-24 and half of Hispanics incorrectly said the person who gave you the check must pay the bank back. This is precisely the type of information that we at Scam Victims United work to educate people about.

As you can see by the results of this survey, there is a great need for education in the area of banking terminology and the check clearing process. One of the major reasons that counterfeit cashier’s checkscams work so well is that when a bank customer hears the terms “the check is clear” or that it will be “verified in 24 hours” it gives them a false sense of security that the check is legitimate and that they can use the money with no repercussions.

And that is our mission.

Shawn Mosch
Co-Founder of
There is strength in numbers!

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REI being used in scam emails


REI Statement on “Prize Winning Payout” Scam





REI encourages consumers who have received this letter to contact their local police department and/or state’s Office of the Attorney General, Consumer Protection Division. The case number with Kent Police Department is 09-101-84. Consumers are asked to use this information with their local law enforcement as a reference.

Questions and concerns can be forwarded to

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Why do scammers love Craigslist?








One thing that I think that Craigslist could add to their posted warning is that a cashier’s check could take 10 business days or more to go through the clearing process. Just because you take the check to the bank and they tell you that it has cleared, or that it will be verified as good in 24 hours does not mean that the bank knows for sure that this check was written on a good account and has the funds in that account to cover the check. This is the information that is missing from so many of the current internet scam warnings, but is also the piece of information that could save so many scam victims. So why don’t the places that post the warnings understand this and include this information? Personally, I feel it is because they are thinking as a “business” and not as a scam victims, and that is one thing that I can do since I have been there myself.


Scam victim arrested – update

Back in August I told you about a scam victim who was arrested, and now I have an update on her case.

Her day in court came, and then the DA first started to read the documents in her file they commented “How could she not know” and “How stupid is she” . . . all while she was sitting just a few feet away. Then, as the DA continued to read their commnets changed to “Wow . . . he is very convincing!”. Too bad they did not appologize for his earlier comments.

When all was said and done the case was dismissed, which is wonderful. She is still struggling to find a job and to recover from the financial loss that she took due to this scam, but she knows that the worst is over.