Newport Woman Outwits "Cashier Check Scam"

Newport Woman Outwits "Cashier Check Scam"

January 21, 2004

By DON DARE
6 On Your Side Reporter

NEWPORT (WATE) -- A Newport woman recently saved herself from being the victim of a "cashier's check scam." Now 6 On Your Side investigates how the scam works.

It blends new technology, sales on the Internet, with a long-standing type of crime, counterfeiting.

In December, Floy Grooms listed her car on autotrader.com. The 1996 Cadillac still sits in her garage. She hasn't moved it since posting it for sale. "And I was asking a low price for it, I thought. These people saw it and thought they'd take advantage of me."

Floy's ad is still on autotrader.com. It includes the price, $9,900, the mileage and how to reach her.

Within a few days, she received a cashier's check for $18,000, along with an e-mail from the buyer who said he's going to send the car to Nigeria. "They say they're interested in buying my car for a big taxi-cab thing, you know," Floy said.

But the buyer said something else in the e-mail. Floy's friend, Tricia Cody, read the message. "Their company policy is to only write one check. And this check is to cover the cost of the vehicle, any shipping, taxes or anything."

Floy only asked $9,900 for her car. Where's the remainder of the money supposed to go?

The buyer told Floy to bring the remaining $8,100 to the Western Union office in Newport. She was to wire the money to the shipper in London, England. "Then I would've been here waiting for somebody to come pick the car up who would never had come." Meantime, they "had the $8,100 and gone."

But before Floy did anything with the cashier's check, she called the bank, Capital State in West Virginia. It turns out, the check is bogus. "If I'd taken it to the bank and drawn out their part of the money, I would've been liable to restore it."

Floy's car is still for sale on the Web. A recent e-mail from the buyer encouraged her to cash the check. "It's no telling how many people have been ripped off by this scam."

She's right. Other people have fallen victim. Here's how. Their cashier's check, from a real bank, was deposited with no problem. However within a week, they were informed the check was phoney. And since they were given cash, they had to make up the difference.

The bottom line is, if the check is for much more than you're asking, stop the deal and trash it.