Artists / Freelancers beware of cheque scams
September 24th, 2009
I discovered this scam early enough not to be stung by it but thought it was worth warning people about.
The way the scam works is that someone buys a product or service from you online and pays by cheque. The cheque arrives with a higher value than the product you sold. Once the cheque has cleared (which it can do even if stolen) you are asked to refund the excess payed by the customer and send the goods.
A few weeks down the line the bank gives you a call to say the money is being removed from your account because it was paid from a stolen cheque leaving you without payment for the goods as well as having paid the customer the excess.
Always ask the bank to run a security check on the cheque if you are unsure.
I was subjected to this scam a while ago now but when I heard about a similar case recently I thought it might be something worth highlighting. Although on this occasion the scam was centred around the sale of paintings, it could easily be applied to anyone selling products or services of high value on the web.
