LA Financial Credit Union has been alerted to the fact that
someone has counterfeited our cashier’s checks and is trying to purchase
Craigslist merchandise with them. The
scammer claims to be out of state and sends a cashier’s check for the
merchandise for more than the sales price.
The seller is asked to use the excess funds to pay for movers to ship
the item.
If you receive a cashier’s check, please call the financial
institution to verify the check. Any
financial institution will be able to verify the validity of the cashier’s
check.
Before buying or selling
items on Craigslist, make sure to read the website’s tips to protect yourself.
Craigslist has become a
scammer’s paradise, with 20 billion page views a month, and 50 million U.S.
users. Scams range from employment and car buying to ticket sales.
To combat these scams,
Craigslist provides the following tips:
- Deal locally with folks you can
meet in person. Follow this one rule and avoid 99 percent of scam attempts
on Craigslist.
- Never wire funds via Western
Union, Moneygram or any other wire service. Anyone who asks you to do so
is a scammer.
- Fake cashier checks and money
orders are common, and banks will cash them and then hold you responsible
when the fake is discovered weeks later.
- Craigslist is not involved in
any transaction, and does not handle payments, guarantee transactions,
provide escrow services, or offer “buyer protection” or “seller
certification.”
- Never give out financial
information (bank account number, social security number, eBay/PayPal
info, etc.)
- Avoid deals involving shipping
or escrow services and know that only a scammer will “guarantee” your
transaction.
- Do not rent housing without
seeing the interior, or purchase expensive items sight-unseen. In all
likelihood, that housing unit is not actually for rent, and that cheap
item does not exist.
- *Do not submit to credit checks
or background checks for a job or for housing until you have met the
interviewer or landlord/agent in person.
Here are some examples
of scams:
1. Someone claims that
craigslist will guarantee a transaction, certify a buyer/seller, OR claims that
craigslist will handle or provide protection for a payment.
- These claims are fraudulent, as
craigslist does not have any role in any transaction.
- Scammer will often send an
official looking email that appears to come from craigslist, offering a
guarantee, certifying a seller, providing payment services -- all such
emails are fakes!
2. Distant person offers
a genuine-looking (but fake) cashier's check.
- you receive an email (examples
below) offering to buy your item, or rent your apartment, sight unseen
- cashier's check is offered for
your sale item, as a deposit for an apartment, or for your services
- value of cashier's check often
far exceeds your item - scammer offers to "trust" you, and asks
you to wire the balance via money transfer service
- banks will often cash these
fake checks AND THEN HOLD YOU RESPONSIBLE WHEN THE CHECK FAILS TO CLEAR,
including criminal prosecution in some cases!
- scam often involves a 3rd party
(shipping agent, business associate owing buyer money, etc)
3. Someone requests wire
service payment via Western Union or MoneyGram:
- Scam "bait" items
include apartments, laptops, TVs, cell phones, tickets, and other high
value items
- Often claim that an MTCN or
confirmation code is needed before he can withdraw your money - this is
FALSE, once you've wired money, it is GONE.
- Common countries currently
include: Nigeria, Romania, United Kingdom, Ukraine, Spain, Italy,
Netherlands - but could be anywhere
- Apartment listing may be local,
but landlord/owner is "travelling" or "relocating" and
needs you to wire money to them abroad
- Deal often seems too good to be
true, price is too low, rent is below market, etc
4. Distant person offers
to send you a money order and then have you wire money:
- this is ALWAYS a scam, in our
experience - the cashier's check is FAKE
- sometimes accompanies an offer
of merchandise, sometimes not
- scammer often asks for your
name, address, etc for printing on the fake check
- deal often seems too good to be
true
5. distant seller
suggests use of an online escrow service.
- most online escrow sites are
FRAUDULENT, operated by scammers
- for more info, do a Google
search on "fake escrow" or "escrow fraud"
6. distant seller asks
for a partial payment upfront, after which he will ship goods
- he says he trusts you with the
partial payment
- he may say he has already
shipped the goods
- deal often sounds too good to
be true
7. foreign company
offers you a job receiving payments from customers, then wiring funds
- foreign company may claim it is
unable to receive payments from its customers directly
- you are typically offered a
percentage of payments received
- this kind of
"position" may be posted as a job, or offered to you via email
If you have been
defrauded by someone in person, contact your local police department.
If you suspect that a
craigslist post may be a scam, contact craigslist. File a complaint with The Internet Crime Complaint Center.
File a complaint with the Federal
Trade Commission.
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