Full Notification

Foreign Business Offers

• They ask you to transfer a fortune from their country to your bank account for safekeeping. But if they really had a fortune they wouldn't need to ask a stranger for help. They could easily afford the best lawyers money can buy to help them with this task...if they were legitimate.
• They say they got the money illegally and that's why they can't go through normal channels. If they admit to being crooks, why would you trust them?
• They pretend to be businesspeople or government officials and ask you to invest in a partnership. Real companies and government agencies don't contact strangers in other countries to offer business propositions.
• They send you a counterfeit check or money order as an "advance" on the millions you'll receive and ask you to send cash back for legal services, bonding, or other expenses. That is not how any legitimate deal works.


Sudden Riches

• The notice comes by regular mail, phone, fax, or email. If you had won a cash prize or inherited money, you would be notified by certified mail.
• They send you a check or money order as an "advance" and ask you to send money to get the rest. But that's not how legitimate contest promoters or law firms operate. If you suddenly come into money, you will pay taxes directly to the government, not to them.
• To gain your trust, they use the name of a well-known sweepstakes company. Get the company's number from directory assistance and call directly to verify.
• They say you won a foreign lottery or sweepstakes, but that's impossible unless you traveled to that country to enter. It is illegal to buy or sell tickets across the U.S. border.
• They say you’ve been selected for a cash grant. But real grant givers don’t contact individuals unexpectedly offering them free money

Overpayment

• They send or give you a check or money order for more than the purchase price and ask you to send the extra to someone who will take care of shipping. But there's no reason why they can't send that person the money directly.
• They say that a check or money order payment will come from someone who owes them money and tell you to deduct your share and send them the rest. Maybe they're in a foreign country and because of currency differences it's difficult to pay you directly. But it's easy to transfer money electronically from anywhere - there's no reason to have someone else send you payment.
• They claim they sent the wrong amount "by mistake" and ask you to return the excess.
• Legitimate buyers will be happy to send the exact amount you're owed.

Love Losses

• They say they are located in a foreign country and they have a check or money order in U.S. dollars that they can't cash. But there's no real reason why they couldn't use the financial services in their own country to cash it.
• They claim to have a medical emergency or some other problem and ask you to help by cashing a check or money order.
• They promise to come to the U.S. to be with you, but they need you to cash a check or money order to cover travel expenses.
• Only cash a check or money order for a close relative, someone you have actually met in person or someone you have known for a long period of time. You will be responsible if the check is phony.

For more information on different types of mail fraud please visit www.fakechecks.org.