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- Be wary of foreign buyers offering cashier's checks
- Be especially wary if the buyer wants to send a check for more than
the asking price. The scammer will then usually ask the seller to wire
the excess money to a bogus shipping company. Once the fake check is
caught, that money is gone and the bank will take it out of the
seller's accounts.
- If you receive a cashier's check contact the issuing bank to verify
its authenticity. DO NOT use the number on the check as that may only
put you in touch with the scammers. Find the issuing bank through the
internet or directory assistance and call them directly.
- If you insist on depositing the cashier's check, then ask your bank
to put a hold on it until it clears 100%. This can take two weeks in
some cases, but if a fake is caught you have not lost any money.
- Most emails used by the scam artists are very similar because they
may try to scam several people at once. Go online and use a search
engine such as Google to search key words, names, addresses and phone
numbers provided in emails from the "buyer." They may appear in
messages posted by people who have already been scammed by the same
"buyer."
- Search the FDIC Alerts to see if the financial institution listed
on the cashier's check has had it's check counterfeited before.
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