Fake Checks and Mobile Deposits

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Hello I'm New here! Joined: 16 Aug 2018 Posts: 2

Long time lurker, needing some feedback. I consider myself pretty savvy with a variety of business and individual scams/fraud. This one has me baffled.

I manage a small temporary staffing company.

We have been recently contacted by two individuals wondering why we are making large mobile payroll deposit into their personal accounts. The checks are several thousand dollars each.

In both instances, the checks have cleared and the persons have contacted the bank to find out where the funds have come from. The bank has provided the individuals with copies of the checks and they looked us up and called us to find out why we are making these deposits.

Our company uses ADP for payroll processing. The deposited checks state they are issued by ADP from our company but have incorrect bank and account data from ADP.

So what is the scam and why random individuals with no relationship to our company? Are they testing the checks to see if they clear before they deposit them into an account they have access to? If so, how would the scammer know that the check worked since it appears this is a random person's account.

Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2018 9:25 pm

Welcome to Eater Madafacor.

Lads (our name for the scammers.) often send fake checks to potential victims. These checks may be for bookings, products or services. Usually there is an over-payment and the victim will pay the difference using a method that cannot be traced or recalled. In your case the victim may not know the scammer yet. Since the deposit does not have your company's account number properly posted and are totally fraudulent they will eventually bounce.

This is the first time that I have heard of deposits made in this fashion. Here is a link to similar financial scams.
https://www.scamwarners.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=3237

If you can contact the recipients and let them know that the deposits will be corrected, let them know that scammers may try to collect funds from them and send a link to our sister site at Scamwarners, you may save them from being scammed.

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 16 Aug 2018 Posts: 2

Hmmm.... You have got me thinking.

If they are depositing via mobile app, this means they likely have this person's financial information already.

I wonder if they are testing the deposit then will make a withdrawal or transfer back out of the account using the mobile app.

For example, for you to make a deposit via Wells Fargo mobile app, then they have already been able to get access the victim's online account.

I am going to check with the first person that contact us a few weeks ago to see if they later had fraud on the account.

Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2018 12:02 am

The link Connie posted has a ton of excellent information on this sort of scam, so have a look when you have a moment.

In particular...

https://www.scamwarners.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=3237 wrote:

How does the scam work?
In all the circumstances described above, the basic scam is the same. The check/money order is fake, forged or stolen. The banks like to clear checks for customers as quickly as possible, so they may show some or all of the proceeds of the check in the victim's account before the bank knows for sure that the check is legitimate. In some countries or states, banks are required to release the proceeds of checks into accounts within a certain number of days. When the victim sees the money in their account, they think that everything is fine, so they send off the money and/or goods being sold to the scammer. Some time later, the bank realises that the check is forged or stolen, and debits the victim's account. The victim is financially responsible for the entire check and will be out any monies or goods sent to the scammer.

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