The Nigeria Counterfeit Cashier’s Check Scam has targeted hundreds (perhaps thousands) of websites across the Internet that feature classified ads (or online auctions) for automobiles, motorcycles, farm equipment, horses, dogs, etc. If you have received an email that mentions that they want to pay you for an item by a cashiers check (usually through a colleague) and they want to send you “extra money” while requesting you to wire them back the remaining difference, it is a scam!

Again, there are many, many variations of the Nigerian Counterfeit Cashiers Check Scam, and one of the most common versions of the scam involves a person from overseas posing as a potential buyer of an item (such as a motorcycle or an automobile). Initially the overseas person may request some additional photos of the item being sold (this lets the seller think the person is a serious buyer). In a later email the overseas person tells the seller that they are overseas, but have a colleague in the United States who owes them money (such as $10,000), and they will instruct their colleague to send the seller a cashier’s check for the sum of $10,000. The overseas person informs the seller to deduct the cost of the item and to send (wire) whatever balance remains to him (so if the seller has something for sale for $5,500, then they will wire the overseas person the $4,500 difference). The overseas person indicates in an email that he has already made shipping arrangements, and tells the seller that when the check is cashed, he will inform his shipping agent to pick up the item. The overseas person also requests a name and address to where the check should be sent, saying that they will send the check immediately (and believe it or not, the cashier’s check does arrive quickly…..it often comes by Fed Ex). Typically the seller will receive between 2 and 5 emails before the overseas person requests an address for mailing a check.

After the seller receives the cashier’s check and deposits it to their bank account, the bank will let the seller (the banks customer) know that the funds are available usually within 24 hours. Some people wait a week though just to make sure everything seems fine for the cashiers check, and with the funds still showing in their bank account, the seller sends the remaining balance of money to the overseas persons’ designated account (often the money is sent via Western Union or Money Gram). Several days later the bank will determine that the cashiers check is counterfeit, and will remove (deduct) the cashiers check amount from their customers account. The seller has now just become a scam victim, having lost every penny that they wired to the overseas person. It seems the overseas person (scammer) is not interested at all in picking up the item that the seller had for sale……he only wanted the seller to make a wire transfer to him. Ironically, the scammer sometimes makes more money on the lower cost items, because if a person has received a check for $10,000 for an item that was only $4,000, then the scammer would make $6,000. If the item was $7,000, the scammer would only make $3,000. Usually though the scammer adds between $2,000 and $7,000 to the actual selling price, so if a person has something for sale for $9,000, then the scammer will probably send the seller a cashier’s check for perhaps $11,000 to $16,000. Recently there seem to be more and more scam emails that are targeting lower value items, such as household items that are for sale. For example, if a woodburning stove, refrigerator, or sofa is for sale for $200, the scammer may send only $1,000, and wants the owner to wire them back $800.

Unfortunately, many banks will say the cashier’s check funds are available within 24 hours, but this does not mean that the cashier’s check is good. It may take two or three weeks to know if the check is good or not, but by then it is too late for the victim (during this time they have already wired the money to the overseas person, and they can’t get the money back).

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