WSVN — You have probably seen it online. Someone offering to pay you to be a secret shopper, to use their money to buy products you can keep. Sounds great, until you find out you have been scammed. How? It’s why one man called Help Me Howard with Patrick Fraser.
For 30 years, Marvin Lyons worked in the air conditioning business. Till his body said, "Can’t do it anymore."
Marvin Lyons: "My back is out where I can’t walk for very long, I can’t stand for very long."
He is retired, his wife works, and they are happy. But life is not a cool breeze, because money is tight, and then Marvin saw an opportunity online to pick up a few dollars.
Marvin Lyons: "Well, I’ve been seeing this one ad over and over and over again. They said you don’t use any of your money, you use their money."
A company wanted to pay Marvin to be a secret shopper for them to evaluate their employees. Marvin said OK and gave them his contact information.
Marvin Lyons: "Well, I get a FedEx envelope at the door with a check for $985."
Marvin was told to deposit the $985 check, withdraw $200 to spend at Wal-Mart to test their employees, keep $100 for his work, and wire the remaining $685 via Western Union because they were being evaluated as well.
Marvin Lyons: "So I went and deposited it, and I waited till it cleared. It cleared the next day. Well, it’s a good check."
Well, Howard, the bank released the funds and later the check bounced, so who’s out of luck? Marvin or the bank?
Howard Finkelstein: "Unfortunately, Marvin is responsible. Federal law requires that a bank release funds from a check within a day or two depending on the type of check, but it takes several days for the check to be processed to determine if it is good or bad. If it’s bad like this, the account holder takes the hit."
But since the money was in his account, Marvin assumed the check was good. He bought the items at the store, wired the rest to a person in Mississippi. Then, a couple of days later, Marvin got the notification.
Marvin Lyons: "The check was gone out of my account. It was declared altered and fictitious."
The check bounced, meaning Marvin had spent his $200 at the store and wired his $685 to the scammers. Marvin, of course, was upset at the crooks and himself.
Marvin Lyons: "Ashamed that I let myself be scammed."
It’s almost impossible for police to nail the scammers, but we wanted to mess with them, so we went online and told them we wanted to participate. They asked for my name, address, age and occupation.
Then they sent us two checks, each for $2,630, asking us to deposit them, review a restaurant, keep $300 for my work and send the remaining money through Western Union to test their service.
Minutes after the tracking showed we had the checks, the crooks were e-mailing and calling us, telling us to rush to the bank, and as soon as the check cleared, wire them the money.
Of course, we didn’t do it, but we told them we did. And then we let them know we knew they were scammers.
They are frustrated, still texting, ‘Pick up my call, what is wrong with you?’ But they aren’t responding to Marvin’s e-mails.
Marvin Lyons: "I e-mailed them and told them I forgive them, but God doesn’t, and to plan to go to prison."
Marvin badly needed a few extra dollars. Instead, he got taken for those dollars.
Marvin Lyons: "I had money in savings, which they were able to take out and transfer over. We don’t have a lot in savings, so we do have savings, and so we just manage to get by."
The scammers use so many different angles — mystery shopper, hiring you to do some work, an unexpected windfall, a relative you didn’t know you had — but one thing each scam has in common: They send you a check and ask you to wire part of the money back for some reason. If you get that request to send some of their money back, it’s a scam. Walk away.
Shopping around to find a solution to your problem? Wanna check in with us? Contact us. It’s not mystery how we operate, We don’t hand out checks, but we will try to help you cash in. With this Help Me Howard, I’m Patrick Fraser, 7News.
FOR MORE INFO:
Avoiding Cashier’s Check Fraud
www.occ.gov/news-issuances/consumer-advisories/2007/consumer-advisory-2007-1.html
Fake Checks FAQ
www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0159-fake-checks
CONTACT HELP ME HOWARD:
E-mail: helpmeHoward@wsvn.com
Reporter: Patrick Fraser at pfraser@wsvn.com
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On Twitter: @helpmehoward7