I still have a check for 6000.00 dollars in my files,from a scam on a item I put up for sale on a free site. The item I was selling was ffor 600.00 but they wanted me to deposit the 6000.00 then send the balance to them from my acct.

That was the second scam I recieved, the 1st I took to the post office and also reported to the FBI. i WAS LATER INFORMED THE SCAMMER WAS ARRESTED. They are all scams, even it seems legit. My wife called the bank that 1 check was drawn on and they said yes the check would have cleared but eventually it would come back on us and we would be legally responsible for the amount plus many other problems.

Then why would the check that was enclosed...why would it be from International Relief and Development??

I went online and sure, there's a TD Waterhouse in Canada, but there's nothing about International Relief and Development that's connected to TD Waterhouse.

And we don't do ANYTHING with TD Waterhouse.

Sounds very fishy. And there are TOO MANY INTERNET SCAMS GOING ON.

Turn it in or trash it , it is a scam! We hear it on the news every day here in Florida, the older people are getting scammed all the time.

How can a check clear and then weeks later, be returned??

I don't get this. With today's technology, can't the bank hook up with the bank that's listed on the check, can't the bank guy call the other bank guy and say: 'I have a check in front of me for $4000 and the name on the check is International Relief, etc. etc.'

And the the guy says: "Will the funds clear, is there enough money in the account"?

And then the other guy would look on his computer, bring up the check guy's bank information, and he could go "oh this check is good, go ahead and deposit it".

So why can't this happen? This is 2008. The year of Iphones, this gadget, that gadget", email, faxing, instant messaging, etc etc.

So how come a check can at first clear, and then shortly after, be returned and then the people are responsible for the funds.

I just don't get this. Can any of you learned people explain this to me??

Thanks much.

Heres what happens:

You deposit the check, your bank clears the check in about 10 days. So then you go ahead and do all the transactions that come with the check, once the account its drawn on realizes its a fraudulent check they put a stop on it or what ever.

When that happens then it comes back to you, and then your bank will put your account in the negative. Yes the banks can call into each other, the account its drawn on can have the funds, but your best bet is to contact the account the check is drawn on and ask them.

Thats what we did, and we were told that yes everything on the check was legit except the address, so that was a red flag. They said we could have taken the check to the bank and cashed it, but if the teller was aware amd caught the error on the check, then no we could not cash it.

Now also they said, that if the check was cashed in about 30 days the company would see it was a fraudulent check and we would be notified by the authorities of this matter. So then if any money was drawn off this check we would be held liable. It would just be a big mess, just like if someone gets their identity stolen.

Just google in check scams, you will come up with everything.

melody, it's not the banks resposiblity to verify if a check is good before deposit it.

if those type of checks are taken to check cashing places, you get traced back from the id you have to provide.