Known Scam?

[wendigo100]

The scam works something like this :

They deposit £1000 in your account

you withdraw it and wire it to them

They then cancel the original cheque/deposit

The bank then charges you £1000.

You are £1000 down, they are £1000 up

Damn you waggle! Now I'll have to think of something else.

[Rebecca Loos]

what if you wait before wiring it back to them?

how long do you have to wait before the bank cannot cancel the original deposit any more?

[AtW]

In this scam they steal money from credit cards into legit account then get owner to send the money back to them while leaving some for himself. Of course when fraud gets investigated the police will follow trail and get bank account owner first - he/she will be the fall guy as those who do this scam generally located in 3rd world countries. Yes the money will be real - but they will be proceeds of crime and whoever takes part in it will get something worse then losing money - criminal record.

[Xerxes]

what if you wait before wiring it back to them?

how long do you have to wait before the bank cannot cancel the original deposit any more?

A UK bank can "unclear" a cheque at any time - there is no safe waiting period. There have been examples of cheques being "uncleared" months or even years after they were "cleared".

[MrsGoof]

SO just

Open a new account with a false name and address
transfere the money in
Take it out as CASH
Close the account
run and hide

kerrrching

[Rebecca Loos]

A UK bank can "unclear" a cheque at any time - there is no safe waiting period. There have been examples of cheques being "uncleared" months or even years after they were "cleared".

Surely that's b0ll0cks. As Mrs Goof said, you can always take the cash and close your account? What is the bank going to do about that? And I mean even without you supplying a false name and address

[waggle321]

Why don't you try depositing a cheque into a uk bank account

Withdrawing the money before it has cleared

and then asking the bank to close the account - you might just find that they have thought of this already.

The thing to note in the original mail, is that it says you have to pay within 24 hours of receipt of the money. If you take longer, the scammer simply cancels his cheque anyway and gets his money back.

Thought for the day : If you rob the person who is trying to rob you can you claim the moral high-ground?

[Rebecca Loos]

Hey Waggle, are you saying that I cannot close my UK bank account because, back in 2001, I deposited a cheque that the issuing bank might cancel and therefore my bank will "unclear"?

That is what I am reading from what Xerxes and you are saying

I find that ludicrous - how can a bank be allowed to unclear cheques after a few years.... It is a surprise people are able to close accounts at all!!!

[waggle321]

Once a cheque has really cleared the money is yours.

However when is it cleared? It depends on a number of things usually its between 3 - 5 days, but with an international cheque its longer.

But your bank will let you withdraw uncleared funds, with the ( not very well publised ) proviso that if the cheque bounces you are liable for the amount withdrawn.


Credit cards are a different story.

[Xerxes]

The bank can "unclear" a "cleared" cheque whenever necessary, regardless of time elapsed. Of course it cannot do that if the account the cheque was "cleared" into no longer exists. In that case they may write to you and ask for the money back but a firm "poke off" should see them on their way (unless it's mega-money). I hope that's made that "clear".

I do not think it a realistic proposal to close your bank account after every cheque has "cleared", just in case it's subsequently "uncleared".

The bottom line is that there is no real concept of a cheque being "cleared" to the extent that the money is irreversibly and forever yours. I used to work in HSBC's cheque clearance department and they regularly "uncleared" cheques months or years old when the dopey person whose account the cheque was written on realised it was fraudulent. Half the time the punter at the other end never even noticed the money had been taken back again.