Scam or Just Strange?
Yesterday I pulled a smallish bubble-padded envelope out of my mailbox with a return address I didn't recognize. I had ordered something small from Amazon recently and I figured maybe it was one of those shipped-by-someone-else situations.
Instead, inside there was a check for $29.99. It was made out to me, but misspelled my first name. It was from the sending company, it appears. It looked legit. And... that's it. No explanation or anything. I haven't recently returned anything or send for any rebates. I haven't ordered anything unfulfilled for that amount in recent memory. Very mysterious.
Now, all the unsolicited check scams I've read about involve a check for a larger amount and a request for a smaller payment back "to cover taxes" or something along those lines. The big check proves to be invalid, costing the victim the smaller amount. This one didn't come with any correspondence, so no apparent strings attached.
What would you do?
I'm skeptical enough that I started poking around online. I found no solid reference to the company name, odd when the name on the check includes "online sales." The envelope address and check address didn't match. One looks like a residence and the other... I'm not sure if it's residential or commercial. Hmm...
I took it in to my bank and asked the two tellers on duty about it. Suspicious, they agreed, but there didn't seem to be any immediate danger. The more experienced one said it could be cashed noting just the last four digits of my account number so as not to give the whole thing away, but pointed out that account numbers aren't highly secret anyway - they're on any check I write. They then took it to their manager who didn't have any better luck than I finding traces of the sender online. The manager's recommendation was not to cash it, and that's about what I was thinking. The risk appears small, but for that amount of money it really doesn't seem worth taking any chances.
Now I wonder if there's any point in trying to contact the sender. There are no phone numbers, but two addresses. Hmm. Most curious.
At least it's a little something to think about besides work stress.
Instead, inside there was a check for $29.99. It was made out to me, but misspelled my first name. It was from the sending company, it appears. It looked legit. And... that's it. No explanation or anything. I haven't recently returned anything or send for any rebates. I haven't ordered anything unfulfilled for that amount in recent memory. Very mysterious.
Now, all the unsolicited check scams I've read about involve a check for a larger amount and a request for a smaller payment back "to cover taxes" or something along those lines. The big check proves to be invalid, costing the victim the smaller amount. This one didn't come with any correspondence, so no apparent strings attached.
What would you do?
I'm skeptical enough that I started poking around online. I found no solid reference to the company name, odd when the name on the check includes "online sales." The envelope address and check address didn't match. One looks like a residence and the other... I'm not sure if it's residential or commercial. Hmm...
I took it in to my bank and asked the two tellers on duty about it. Suspicious, they agreed, but there didn't seem to be any immediate danger. The more experienced one said it could be cashed noting just the last four digits of my account number so as not to give the whole thing away, but pointed out that account numbers aren't highly secret anyway - they're on any check I write. They then took it to their manager who didn't have any better luck than I finding traces of the sender online. The manager's recommendation was not to cash it, and that's about what I was thinking. The risk appears small, but for that amount of money it really doesn't seem worth taking any chances.
Now I wonder if there's any point in trying to contact the sender. There are no phone numbers, but two addresses. Hmm. Most curious.
At least it's a little something to think about besides work stress.
That cheque's for me, actually. See, when Fox got his Z-Board, it was broken, and the seller offered to send me a cheque for the cost of the Z-Board. I was wondering where it was. o.O It didn't occur to me it'd go to you.
ReplyDeleteWell okay, that solves that mystery. One more little complication and reason why I prefer not to have you shipping things to me when you want them up there. :P Not a huge deal, though.
ReplyDelete*facepalms*
ReplyDelete