Check in the Mail? Safe to cash?

jclast

Okay, so I got a letter the other day from a "sweepstakes" that I don't remember entering telling me that I won $125,000.00 There was a check for > $3,000.00 enclosed. According to the letter, this money is supposed to cover the tax on my "winnings."

Here's what I'm wondering. They were stupid enough to send an honest-to-God check. The word "void" doesn't appear on it anywhere and all the security features that are supposed to be on a check are there.

Since they were dumb enough to send me a real check, is there any reason that I shouldn't cash it and take the $3,000.00?

Tube

Is the check made of some kind of cracker?

blincoln

It sounds like a scam to me. I know there are companies that mail out random checks for that amount, and if you cash them, you are agreeing to pay them back with a high interest rate. This is probably a variation on that. Did you read the fine print?

jclast

No fine print anywhere.

The only thing that says anything will ever be void is this:

Goofy Sweepstakes Letter wrote:

The amount of $125,000.00 less taxes and administrative cost will be remitted to you by a Bank Draft Payment or remittance will be made to your account within 48 hours or before the deadline the official time line legally required for settlements.
Call Karen or Tony your assigned claim agent on (X-XXX XXX XXXX) Always quote your (Ref # and Batch #). Please note that all prizes must be claimed not later than December 31, 2006; we shall assume this funds as unclaimed and shall automatically null and void all processes and claim.

tony_important

call these people and ask them what the hell is going on.

Ask them if you ever have to pay any money back,
OR,
If by cashing the cheque, you are required to sign up for anything.

Document the conversation, and don't give out any more information than necessary over the phone (address is ok, the file number or whatever is fine, so is your name. Don't give anything else out, even if they ask nicely). They can't lie to you over the phone, and let them know that you are documenting what is being said in detail, just to be safe.

mspencer

If you'd like, you can take the nine digit ABA routing number from the MICR line at the bottom of the check and look it up here: http://www.fededirectory.frb.org/search_ACH.cfm

Give them a call if you'd like and ask THEM if this is a real check. You'll likely be calling a bank's ACH department, so be quick and to the point. "I received a strange check in the mail. If I fax you a copy of this check, can you confirm this is a negotiable instrument?"

If they say it does appear to be negotiable, and you deposit the check into a demand deposit account, DO NOT SPEND THE MONEY. Wait about two weeks, to make sure the check doesn't come back.

Tube

I'm going to say it's not safe to cash, based on evidence that is not solid but almost certainly correct.

here is my evidence:

life does not work like that

mspencer

OK, good point. I'll amend my advice then: call that ACH department, let them know these guys are mailing out what APPEAR to be negotiable instruments, offer to fax a copy, and advise them that they might start seeing a lot of checks come through. They should talk to their customer.

I thought only one sweepstakes company would ever be dumb enough to attempt this, but maybe you have found a second dumb company. Patrick Combs famously cashed one of these checks, and had an interesting story to tell about it:

http://www.goodthink.com/writing/view_stories.cfm?id=11

But yeah, you probably don't want to cash the check.

MichaelLC

I would sign it, carefully fold it back up, then deposit at the local office of here (Staples.com).

Read the fine print, there's always something about agreeing to signup for some service or another.

Ronjon

I would go with a check cashing institution, the shadyier the better. sure they may take 10% of the check to cash it, but they also won't ask questions, or have access to your bank account.

Thanatos

Google the name of the sweepstakes, the names of the people on the letter... Google everything about it.

TroubledTom

jclast wrote:

No fine print anywhere.

The only thing that says anything will ever be void is this:

Goofy Sweepstakes Letter wrote:

The amount of $125,000.00 less taxes and administrative cost will be remitted to you by a Bank Draft Payment or remittance will be made to your account within 48 hours or before the deadline the official time line legally required for settlements.
Call Karen or Tony your assigned claim agent on (X-XXX XXX XXXX) Always quote your (Ref # and Batch #). Please note that all prizes must be claimed not later than December 31, 2006; we shall assume this funds as unclaimed and shall automatically null and void all processes and claim.

Okay, even if the fine print is confusing, this could be just a straight up "Nigerian" style scam where they are after your bank account information. I'd say, tear up the check and don't call them.


Edit: Just how many of these "prizes" are they giving away I wonder?

Hirocon

Usually the way these scams work is, you cash the check, you call that number, and they tell you to wire the $3000 for "taxes" somewhere. You wire the money. The check turns out to be bogus, but neither you nor the bank find out the check is bogus until after you've wired the money. You're out $3000, and you might face a steep fine for trying to cash a bogus check.

tony_important

Don't give any bank info out if you're going to call them.

You'll get fucked in the ass financially by these people. And they're big.

Big Dookie

Yeah, I'd say shred this thing and throw it in the trash. NO ONE just gets a check from some sweepstakes they don't even remember signing up for. This is either some kind of credit/subscription/etc offer, or just a flat-out scam. Just throw the thing away and never think about it again.

Mmmm... Cocks...

Ronjon wrote:

I would go with a check cashing institution, the shadyier the better. sure they may take 10% of the check to cash it, but they also won't ask questions, or have access to your bank account.

I'd go some route like this, or you could always take everything with you and go to your bank. Explain everything to them. My bank has always been helpful. When I was a dumb kid when I'd go talk to them about my first debit card and when I messed up and what not they'd always wave fees and stuff.

mspencer

Ronjon wrote:

I would go with a check cashing institution, the shadyier the better. sure they may take 10% of the check to cash it, but they also won't ask questions, or have access to your bank account.

I'd recommend against using a check cashing company. When someone cashes a check for you, they are extending you credit in a way -- they are trusting you when you tell them this check will clear. If the check comes back, they will come back after you for the money.

If you knowingly obtained this check through unlawful means, like insurance fraud or something, then cashing the check might trigger something that gets you in trouble. But you didn't.

If you just got this check from a place that tells you this check is for something related to winnings from a drawing, you aren't committing a crime by depositing the check. But remember that depositing a check and SPENDING THE MONEY are two different things -- BE VERY CAREFUL before actually spending any of this money.

Here's my idea of the worst-case sequence of events:
1) You deposit this $3000 check. Now your bank balance is, say, $11500 instead of $8500.
2) You DO NOT SPEND THE MONEY. You never let your bank balance drop below $3000.
3) After a few days (but up to two weeks) you receive a letter from the bank that says the check you deposited was returned (NSF, account closed, or some other fatal return code) and they have debited $3000 from your account. Your bank balance is back to normal now. Nobody is angry at you, nobody knocks on your door or fines you -- it appears this sweepstakes company isn't a very good one because they didn't actually have money to pay you with.
4) More time passes, and you start to see unauthorized ACH debits from your account. Because you're not a business -- you have a CONSUMER demand deposit account -- you have up to 30 days to reverse unauthorized ACH debits. You don't wait 30 days though -- you IMMEDIATELY contact your bank, tell them these ACH debits were unauthorized, and they reverse them. You get your money back.
5) Now that you know what their game was, now you have to deal with a bit of annoying damage: those inconvenient ACH debits were promptly reversed, so that money is back in your account, but those debits might have caused returned items or overdraft fees, and now you have to ask your bank to refund any fees. (Since unauthorized ACH debits are never really your fault, they shouldn't give you any grief about refunds.) You may now have to move your account to a new account number because of fraud, which means you have to reorder checks, etc. Big hassle, but not life-ruiningly bad.

Above all else, don't act upon advice you get on the Internet without first talking to experts. I am not a banker, I do work for a bank, but this is not banking advice. Talk to your own personal banker and confirm this story. You can even say "this random idiot on the Internet said this was all I have to worry about" and read my post to your banker and see if she can confirm it.

Thanatos

If you decide to cash it, do not write your account number on the back of the check.

Kewop Decam

Thanatos wrote:

If you decide to cash it, do not write your account number on the back of the check.

Why not? I'm curious as to why this is dangerous.

Thanatos

Kewop Decam wrote:

Thanatos wrote:

If you decide to cash it, do not write your account number on the back of the check.

Why not? I'm curious as to why this is dangerous.

A lot of banks do check imaging, now, where they send you copies of the checks you've written that other people have cashed, front and back.

It was a teller at my bank who told me why this was a bad idea.

jhunter46

I used to work for a check cashing company, I can almost guarantee you that this is a fraudulent check.

I've seen the same scam several times before, the tell you that you won, but this is supposed to cover either tax or a processing fee. They ask you to cash the check and send them the money usually through a wire transfer.

The check itself is printed on actual check stock, it will have watermarks, magnetic ink and several other security features, the routing number and account number may even be an actual account, but the owner of the account didn't issue the check.

A few things you should do is research the company that issued you the check, notify your local police department and the bank the check was issued from.

Scams like this pray not only on the consumers but check cashing business as well. Many times they will ask you to cash the check at a check cashing company and when that check bounces you and the company are responsible for the fees.

I hate to break it to you, but this is one of those to good to be true deals.

matt has a problem

Yes, this is a scam, the same way people who win ebay auctions then send money orders for more than the amount of the item, asking you to send them back the overage amount is a scam. You'll deposit the check, withdraw the money, then the bank will discover the check is a fake and you'll be out whatever you've withdrawn. My advice would be to take the check to your bank and explain what happened, they're more than happy to help stop this kind of fraud.

Sir Red of the Manti

Can we get a scan of this thing? I'm sure I'm not the only one interested in seeing what this thing looks like.

NightDragon

blincoln wrote:

It sounds like a scam to me. I know there are companies that mail out random checks for that amount, and if you cash them, you are agreeing to pay them back with a high interest rate. This is probably a variation on that. Did you read the fine print?

Holy crap. That and the rest of this thread is good to know stuffs. I had no idea this even went on.

Super shitty!

Godfather

mspencer wrote:

OK, good point. I'll amend my advice then: call that ACH department, let them know these guys are mailing out what APPEAR to be negotiable instruments, offer to fax a copy, and advise them that they might start seeing a lot of checks come through. They should talk to their customer.

I thought only one sweepstakes company would ever be dumb enough to attempt this, but maybe you have found a second dumb company. Patrick Combs famously cashed one of these checks, and had an interesting story to tell about it:

http://www.goodthink.com/writing/view_stories.cfm?id=11

But yeah, you probably don't want to cash the check.

I just spent almost an hour reading this story, and it's amazing on how far this thing went on for. I was completely unaware of this going on during the time, but to be fair I was only seven at the time.

Still an amazing read though.