Hello Dope,
I realize that nearly all ‘is this a scam’ questions are scams but this is not for me, it is for my niece. She has been waiting on this for a few days and will be over as soon as she can to pick it up.
My nieces mutt had puppies so she is selling them on craigslist here in Anchorage, Alaska. She received a call from, if I remember correctly, a person in Washington who is willing to buy a puppy for a family member here in Alaska and has sent a check via FedEx. First set of alarms go off and I warn my niece about this being a possible scam.
She is using my address as a mailing address because she is living with her Mom and she doesn’t want to drive to a mailbox everyday, or something. I don’t know why and I don’t care, it doesn’t hurt me to receive mail here and she gets maybe a letter or two a week. So I get the FedEx delivery and it’s from Dublin, Ohio 43016 with the sender address being Watkins Insurance Group.
There is a knock on the door and when I get there a FedEx van is going down the road and an envelope is at my door.
I don’t want to post the whole address because if this is real I don’t want to my actions to reflect on them and I’m hoping city and zip code should be enough. The address does show a house in a residential area but this person may work insurance out of their house.
Google doesn’t bring up Watkins Ins. Group in Ohio, but based out of Texas.
The manila folder is used with random black marker doodles over it and the label seems to be printed from a house printer and help on with 2 strips of packing tape about 2 inches long. I don’t know how the label hasn’t ripped off as the label is 8 1/2 by 5 inches. However I think a home business would try to save as much money as possible and as this isn’t an official transaction maybe the person was just saving money.
So everything screams to me scam but a lot of my concerns can be explained. The flap is taped and since it is my nieces mail I am not going to open in.
So is there any way I can determine if this is a scam just using a FedEx label?
A family member here in Alaska is going to pick up the puppy after payment received.
My niece says she has been in contact with both the out of state party and a family member here in town by text. But as I am not involved, other than receiving the mail, I don’t know all the particulars.
I believe she is asking $100 for the pups. Pups have their shots and been de-wormed.
The only way to know is to deposit the check and wait for it to clear. Do not hand over a puppy before the check clears. The bank will add the money to your account immediately, but this does NOT mean the check has cleared. Give it 10 days and ask the bank to confirm the check is good.
A common scam with checks it to send a fake check for much more than the item is worth and then ask for the extra to be sent back as cash. So if she’s asking $100 and the check is for $500, that may be what’s going on. She deposits the check and then wires the extra money to the scammer. It takes the bank a few days to realize the check is fake and by then the money is gone and your sister will be on the hook for it.
If the check is for the actual amount of $100, it may be the real deal. I think you can call the bank on the check and ask if there is enough money in the account for the check to go through. I used to do this when someone paid me with a check and I didn’t want to risk any bounce fees if it didn’t go through. That might help you figure out if it’s a real check.
If the check is for $100 and they really have someone in Alaska get the puppy, I would think it’s not a scammer. That’s a lot of trouble to go through to scam someone out of $100 or a puppy.
Are mutt puppies rare where you are? That’s one thing that seems like it could be a scam. It seems if they want a mutt puppy, there should be lots of choices, and some even free. I know people who have driven to other states for a puppy, but that was because they wanted a certain breed.
Call the bank branch that the check is drawn on and ask them to verify with their customer that the check is valid and that they are buying a puppy with an insurance company check.
This is what I told my niece but she is young and I got the ‘yeah yeah I know’ treatment. I was young and knew everything at one time.
This is a reason I want to look at the check but I won’t force the issue. The mutts are pure mutt, an accident between her mutt and a cousins mutt. Good looking mutts but mutts all the same.
Can a random person call a bank and get info like this? How would I go about doing this?
You would need to see the check and get the routing and account numbers off the bottom of the check, they are the ones printed in a funny font.
Then call the issuing bank, or preferably a branch of the bank where you might be more likely to talk to a real person, and tell them you have a check drawn from their bank and want to know if it is legitimate.
I could get your ABA and account number and print checks for your account from my pc.
If it’s for your company, you probably wouldn’t notice until your bookkeeper did the next bank reconciliation as long as I didn’t go crazy and overdraw your account. If it were from your personal account, as long as you didn’t check your account that often, same thing.
These types of checks can clear an account and be returned weeks later when they are discovered.
I wasn’t thinking that FedEx was in on the scam just that the extremely budget label was used. As I said earlier this isn’t the one thing that screams scam to me, it is the fact that it is barely taped on.
As I said most of my concerns can be explained but this still seems off to me.
Or everyone can say, ‘Calm down uncle, you niece is an adult now’. I am trying, I only mentioned my concerns once and I don’t want to hound her.
I get calls two or three times a month asking if we have written (for example) check number 1234 for $4,672.87 to John Smith from our bank, responding to a call from another bank or check cashing service or whatever. Our checks must look fake or something, but I get verification calls on a regular basis so it is happening.
Look at the check and it should have a bank name on it. Something on the check will identify the branch. If not, call the toll free number and say "Hello, (name of) Bank? I was FedEx’d a check from a customer of yours for a puppy that is going to be picked up in person by a third party and I’m a bit suspicious because the check is drawn on the account of an insurance company in Texas and I am in Alaska. I would like to verify that the check is good.
Go to a local branch of the bank if they won’t do it over the phone.
One reason is that there is no period of time after which fraudulently transferred money will be yours to keep. The normal 10 days or so for a check to clear just means that there’s money in the account it’s drawn on and no obvious red flags were raised. It’s not proof that the check was valid. Think of it this way. If I stole a check from you and wrote a check for the full value of your account, your bank would process it and transfer the funds. If you, a month later, noticed that something was up, you would totally get your money back, and you’d get it back from whoever the funds had been transferred to. This is like buying stolen property. It doesn’t matter how long you’ve had it. It’s not yours, and you have to give it back.
The second reason is that depositing a check that you have good reason to believe is fraudulent is itself a crime in many places. And even if it isn’t, you may get caught up in a fraud investigation that’s way more trouble than it’s worth.