Today I just want to relay a personal experience regarding financial fraud that I just experienced to make everyone aware that there are some really slick operators out there and we all need to ‘trust but verify’ constantly. It is a very sad commentary on our society when it has become so difficult to trust anyone.
I have a 2010 Ford Ranger pickup that only has 39,000 miles on it. I inherited from my dad, and I used it extensively when I was doing some major remodeling at my house but since most of that is done, it now sits idle most of the time. I occasionally take it to Home Depot and once in a while I will go to the dump but, other than that, I don’t really use it. It’s in great shape. Like I said, it only has 39,000 miles on it. In any case, I decided to sell it.
I place an ad in the local paper. A couple weeks after I placed the ad, I took off on my great road trip down to Arizona and Southern California. While I was gone, I got a text message indicating interest in the truck. I responded and the other party and I exchanged several emails, including a picture I sent them, before agreeing upon a sales price. I explained that I was out of town and when I would be home. The ‘buyer’ said that wasn’t a problem and to let them know when I was home, and they would then deliver a cashier’s check.
When I got home, I texted the ‘buyer’ that I was home. They stated that they were sending the check and when I received it and the funds had been deposited into my account, they would arrange to have the vehicle picked up and whatever documents needed to be signed would be signed by the shipper (Red Flag!). They also said they would include the shipping costs in the check that was delivered to me. (Red Flag!).
I received a USPS priority envelope with the check a couple of days later. I looked at the return address on the envelope and it was from a company in Columbus, Ohio! (Red Flag!). The check looked like a legitimate check, but I noticed that it was issued by the Banc of California by a different company than what was on the return label on the envelope. (Red Flag!).
I went down and immediately deposited the check and asked the bank when the check would clear. They told me the funds should be available and credited to my account the next day. After all of these red flags, I went home and Googled both the company on the return address label on the envelope and the company whose name was on the check. They both checked out as legitimate entities. It still didn’t feel right.
The next morning, I received a call from the ‘buyer’ but did not answer it. I wanted to talk to the bank first. I went down to my bank right after they opened and asked to speak to someone about the check I had deposited the previous day because I had a strong suspicion it might be fraudulent. By this time, the funds had already been credited to my account and were available for my use.
I sat down with one of the bankers and explained the whole situation and why I was suspicious. We decided to call the bank issuing the check to see if the account was a legitimate account. We verified the account upon which they check was written was an active, legitimate account. We then called the company that ostensibly issued the check. We told them the account number on the check so they could verify that it was, in fact, their bank account, which it was. We told them to whom the check was written (me) and they immediately responded that they had NOT issued any such check. They did not issue checks to private parties for the purchase of vehicles. Clearly, someone was fraudulently using their legitimate bank account.
When I was talking to the banker after these calls, it was apparent that these idiots were counting on the lag in time between when the funds were credited to my account until the fraud was detected by the company whose bank account was being fraudulently used. That could have been up to two weeks.
Had I not been suspicious and decided to start peeling the onion on this whole thing, I could have signed over the title of my truck to ‘someone’ and spent some of the money that was falsely credited to my account. When this fraud eventually came to light, I would have lost my truck and would have had to reimburse Wells Fargo for any of the money that I had spent. It could have been a very expensive lesson.
The bottom line is simply that even if someone gives you a ‘legitimate’ check drawn on a real bank account, that is still not a guarantee there is not fraud at work. We all need to be very, very careful because these people are getting very sophisticated in how they prosecute these frauds. They know that the law says that a bank must credit the funds to your account within 1 to 5 days. But the fact is, it may take a week or two for your bank to get paid by the bank issuing the check. And, if your bank doesn’t get paid because of fraud, you are liable for any of the money you spent!!
If I choose to sell the truck (or anything else) again, it will be cash, or a check drawn on a local bank so the buyer and I can go to the bank together and get the funds. Beware! There are some real slime balls out there!!