Last August, in San Francisco, a victim of this sort of scam actually got arrested (and Bank of America got a nice batch of negative publicity). All he was trying to do was have the bank cash the $2000 check if it was valid. But B of A called the cops when they discovered it wasn't (by calling the business it was drawn on, after noticing the account had been flagged to watch for fraud).
Good thing I didn’t try to deposit it in the local bank branch here. I would hate to have been frog-marched out of there in handcuffs.
You said — “Last August, in San Francisco, a victim of this sort of scam actually got arrested (and Bank of America got a nice batch of negative publicity). All he was trying to do was have the bank cash the $2000 check if it was valid. But B of A called the cops when they discovered it wasn’t (by calling the business it was drawn on, after noticing the account had been flagged to watch for fraud).”
And this is *exactly why* nobody should be doing business online — individual to individual. I wouldn’t do it — never — absolutely never.
That’s not to say that one cannot do business as an individual buying from an established business online. One can check that out beforehand. A business will have a reputation. If it hasn’t been in business long enough, then don’t do business with them.
But never do business with an individual or even with a “business” giving you money for something. You’ll run into this sort of problem, for sure...
Regards,
Star Traveler
P.S. — One can do business individual to individual as long as you’re only getting contact information online and you go see the product yourself and examine it first and then decide to buy it. Or, if you’re selling, you have the person and you meet and then they give you cash. I would even be wary of the cash, until I went to the bank with it. That’s how bad the fraud is, out there in the marketplace. It’s not like walking into a grocery store and buying groceries...