Watch out for fake wedding gig
Watch out for fake wedding gig
So, I just got the email newsletter from the Brobdingnagian Bards,
a Texas RenFaire musical group. Apparantly, they were recently
taken for a large sum of money by an internet scam. Read about it
here:
http://www.marcgunn.com/2007/10/warning ... ding.shtml
To summarize, if you play weddings and someone named "Pitt Andre"
hires you, then asks for the money back, wait a few weeks for the bank
to make sure the check is real.
a Texas RenFaire musical group. Apparantly, they were recently
taken for a large sum of money by an internet scam. Read about it
here:
http://www.marcgunn.com/2007/10/warning ... ding.shtml
To summarize, if you play weddings and someone named "Pitt Andre"
hires you, then asks for the money back, wait a few weeks for the bank
to make sure the check is real.
- emmline
- Posts: 11859
- Joined: Mon Nov 03, 2003 10:33 am
- antispam: No
- Location: Annapolis, MD
- Contact:
Re: Watch out for fake wedding gig
Or, more precisely, if anyone sends you a check for anything, and you do not personally know and trust the person, never send a refund until your bank has assured you that the check has completely cleared. Or, better, wait 2 weeks as official policy.fearfaoin wrote:To summarize, if you play weddings and someone named "Pitt Andre"
hires you, then asks for the money back, wait a few weeks for the bank
to make sure the check is real.
Always immediately distrust anyone who sends more than the correct amount.
- Innocent Bystander
- Posts: 6816
- Joined: Wed Aug 03, 2005 12:51 pm
- antispam: No
- Location: Directly above the centre of the Earth (UK)
- Steamwalker
- Posts: 975
- Joined: Mon Apr 23, 2007 1:42 pm
- antispam: No
This is a common scam type and it can apply to anything. Awhile back, we were looking for roommates on craiglist. The majority of the people that responded to the posting were either from out-of-state or overseas. They end up sending a checking for a amount higher than what is required and then shortly after, ask for the difference or will cancel outright and ask for the money back. Often, the bank will clear the check intially and then come back to you when they later find out the check was fake. I've never fell for it but the landlord was nearly taken even though I warned her beforehand.
- Bloomfield
- Posts: 8225
- Joined: Mon Oct 15, 2001 6:00 pm
- antispam: No
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 8
- Location: Location: Location:
I find it incredible that in America a credit card is cleared within seconds, often wirelessly, but it takes several days to clear a check (and checks are still physically sent from state to state by banks). Weird. And so 1930s.
Of course they should have become suspicious the moment someone claimed to want to hire the Brobdingnagian Bards for a wedding.
Of course they should have become suspicious the moment someone claimed to want to hire the Brobdingnagian Bards for a wedding.
/Bloomfield
-
- Posts: 4245
- Joined: Sat Mar 09, 2002 6:00 pm
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 1
- Location: Salt Lake City
Not so, my dear Bloomfield (about the check clearing time, I mean). There's an evil machine out there in retail world that clears checks for a retailer almost immediately. My landlord uses one (I got a whiny note that we aren't to use gel pens because the computer struggles to read it) and I received information from my bank about six months ago that it's becoming more common so don't plan on any leeway for check clearing time--you don't know who's using it and who isn't.
Susan
Susan
- emmline
- Posts: 11859
- Joined: Mon Nov 03, 2003 10:33 am
- antispam: No
- Location: Annapolis, MD
- Contact:
You're right. Sometimes they give you your check right back because all they had to do was run it through the machine to debit you. So why would it take so long for the scammer's check to be revealed as fraudulent?susnfx wrote:There's an evil machine out there in retail world that clears checks for a retailer almost immediately.
- Bloomfield
- Posts: 8225
- Joined: Mon Oct 15, 2001 6:00 pm
- antispam: No
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 8
- Location: Location: Location:
- Jerry Freeman
- Posts: 6074
- Joined: Mon Dec 30, 2002 6:00 pm
- antispam: No
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 8
- Location: Now playing in Northeastern Connecticut
- Contact:
A handyman who works for me will take a check I've written and cash it at the local, momandpop grocery. The store has one of those gizmos, and it sucks the money out of my bank account instantly. Shows up on my statement as something like "Check number XXXX cashed electronically."
Best wishes,
Jerry
Best wishes,
Jerry
- Bloomfield
- Posts: 8225
- Joined: Mon Oct 15, 2001 6:00 pm
- antispam: No
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 8
- Location: Location: Location:
Wow. The 1980s finally come to America. I'm impressed.Jerry Freeman wrote:A handyman who works for me will take a check I've written and cash it at the local, momandpop grocery. The store has one of those gizmos, and it sucks the money out of my bank account instantly. Shows up on my statement as something like "Check number XXXX cashed electronically."
Best wishes,
Jerry
/Bloomfield
Up until last year, my uncle was the guy who fed the checks intoBloomfield wrote:I find it incredible that in America a credit card is cleared within seconds, often wirelessly, but it takes several days to clear a check (and checks are still physically sent from state to state by banks). Weird. And so 1930s.
a machine at a bank warehouse. The machine reads the checks and
does the actual electronic transfer. It probably still runs a Cobol
program written by my father before I was born. So, the checks
were collected by the bank and were eventually sent to the
warehouse where they were fed into the machine. So, much of the
time was taken up by physical travel to where the machine was
kept. Recently, a law was passed that allowed checks to be
completely electronic from bank to bank. So, a machine that reads
the check can be at the bank (including inside an ATM) and the
check can be electronically cleared in seconds. I don't know why
congress took so long to get around to doing this. It probably had
something to do with technology, and something to do with not
putting people like my uncle out of a job (a decidedly European
ideal...)
- Wanderer
- Posts: 4461
- Joined: Wed Mar 24, 2004 10:49 pm
- antispam: No
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 8
- Tell us something.: I've like been here forever ;)
But I guess you gotta filter out the spambots.
100 characters? Geeze. - Location: Tyler, TX
- Contact:
Walmart does this, too.Bloomfield wrote:Wow. The 1980s finally come to America. I'm impressed.Jerry Freeman wrote:A handyman who works for me will take a check I've written and cash it at the local, momandpop grocery. The store has one of those gizmos, and it sucks the money out of my bank account instantly. Shows up on my statement as something like "Check number XXXX cashed electronically."
Best wishes,
Jerry
│& ¼║: ♪♪♫♪ ♫♪♫♪ :║