BEWARE - Bogus Postal Money Orders >>>UPDATE: BUSTED!<<<

K6AZ

I was just down at the post office. One tip I was given years ago is to cash the postal money orders fist, then ship the item. Well, this tip finally paid off today. I had a web purchase that totalled $720. The clerk informed me that this MO was on their hot list, in other words it was one that was stolen blank. This scammer did a good job of imprinting it, sure looked real to me. The scammer's shipping address was a private mail box in Jersey City NJ.

I didn't think there was such a problem with stolen postal money orders, but the postmaster gave me this URL, and it is surprising how many MOs are on the hot list. Don't assume a MO is as good as cash, bookmark this URL and always check it out, and be sure to refresh it. The postmaster told me that this list can be updated as many as 20 times a week.

Stolen Money Order List

Neptune

WOW - thanks for the tip.

KurtHorn

Great tip, thanks! -Kurt-

Louis

Thanks for the tip, Eric.

chiefbob

Good info, K6AZ! It's bookmarked on my PC for future reference. Thanks for posting.

Bob

PS: I didn't know you cashed them in at the post office? I never thought of doing that, as I usually just deposit them in my bank. Great idea!

morgannut2

Tony and the boys in Jersey still expect the coins they bought, plus 50% interest cause of the big mouth K6!!

atarian

my moms friend lives in Jersey City. the first thing out of her mouth is that you cant trust anyone who is from there. I dont agree 100% with it. but 99.9% i wouldnt feel uncomfortable walking down a street in jersey city ( even with the cops there). that and newark is known for crime and stuff it wouldnt suprise me if some scammer next goes to Newark to do things

K6AZ

<< <i>Good info, K6AZ! It's bookmarked on my PC for future reference. Thanks for posting.

Bob

PS: I didn't know you cashed them in at the post office? I never thought of doing that, as I usually just deposit them in my bank. Great idea! >>



Not only can you cash US postal MOs at the post office, but also any of the Candian postal money orders.

Poppy

Thanks for the heads up

K6AZ

One more thing I didn't add in my OP, and that is this was a numismatic item, and the bogus MO was out of a block of 400. Anyone who sells coins and/or bullion on a website needs to be very careful, I'm sure I'm not the only one who got one of these.

itsnotjustme

Many times when I try to cash them the clerk will answer they do not have enough cash in the drawer....

Great tip! I knew the PO kept a list, as I have seen the clerks check it. i didn't know it was on-line!

K6AZ

Smaller POs usually can't cash large ones like that, but you can still take it with you and have them check it before you ship the item.

mercurynut

I never thought that would be a problem. thanks for the info!

walkinstick

That's alot of missing checks?

ibzman350

thanx for the info.




Herb

Stuart

Eric: Thanks for this very helpful public service thread!!

stev32k

Let my add my thanks as well. This is very good information!

agentjim007

I just cashed a money order at the Post Office 5 minutes ago.

cdan12

thats a huge list, must be thousands of them.

ScarsdaleCoin

Two

Dave99B

That is great advice. I'll remember that in the future.

Dave

Peetie

Thanks for the tip, Eric. That's a whole lotta missing checks.

littlejohn

i just had a hold put on one, i got last week for $3,000 dollars at my bank.
was put on hold for a hole week.it suck bad.first for 5 days than for two more days.thay said there been a lot of bad post office money order.
littlejohn

K6AZ

Are you sure it was a postal money order? The maximum amount for postal MOs is $1000.

littlejohn

yes it was 3 $1,000 ones

pursuitofliberty

Great tip Eric ... very prudent!!

Keep up the good work!

ARCO

Eric - So have you responded to the seller that sent you the stolen MO? You should send him a 20 cent worn buffalo nickel and thank him for his purchase. Act like the money he sent you was for the nickel and see if he gets indignant. If he does, let him know a worn buffalo nickel is worth more than the stolen MO that he sent you.

Tyler

BAJJERFAN

Some people thought that grocery store money orders were risky and unreliable cuz employees could steal em. Well so much for the USPS MO as being the safest way to send $$$.

Petescorner

Just curious, was it from an eBay buyer?

K6AZ

<< <i>Eric - So have you responded to the seller that sent you the stolen MO? You should send him a 20 cent worn buffalo nickel and thank him for his purchase. Act like the money he sent you was for the nickel and see if he gets indignant. If he does, let him know a worn buffalo nickel is worth more than the stolen MO that he sent you.

Tyler >>



They told me not to contact this guy in any way. From the sounds of it, I think they were planning on paying him a visit at his mail box location.

ebaytrader

Thanx for the site link, Eric.

Did the Postal Circus mention that they have no intention of investigating the stolen MO unless it excedes X amount and that under no circumstances will they reimburse you if you lose in the transaction?

K6AZ

<< <i>Just curious, was it from an eBay buyer? >>



No, this was through a web site order. Since this was one out of a block of 400 stolen blanks, it wouldn't surprise me if he has been using them on eBay as well.

RedneckHB

Thanks for the link. Thats quite a long list.

K6AZ

<< <i>Thanx for the site link, Eric.

Did the Postal Circus mention that they have no intention of investigating the stolen MO unless it excedes X amount and that under no circumstances will they reimburse you if you lose in the transaction? >>



That didn't apply in this case. I always check the MOs first, so the coins came back with me.

relayer

Thats it - from now on I'm only accepting cash

alfalfa

Very useful site. Thanks!

RJ

Koinlink

Fantastic info!! Thanks!

IrishMike

Thanks for alerting us. Over the years these get stolen and it cracks me up when I see an ebay seller only accepting postal money orders. The only advantage is that the post office has their own cops. If you accept money orders you can always find a number to call to verify if the money order is legitimate. I have seen scams from my years in the bank using fake cashiers checks, stolen cashiers checks and fake ceritified checks. One local scam cost 5 local banks close to a 100K and all they had to do was call us to verify its authenticity. Instead these guys were going to branches, through the drive-ins and doing split deposits on $6000 checks, i.e. keeping 3K and depositing the rest. All of these accounts were new accounts at those banks.

The lesson is, call the issuer of the instrument to verify its good. BTW you can do the same thing with a personal check, you can call and ask the bank if the check will clear. Of course it might not clear by the time it goes through the system, but if its a local check you can beat it down their and have them cash it or issue you a cashiers check if its made out to your business name.

dorkkarl

fantastic info, thanks!

K S

BAJJERFAN

<<" One local scam cost 5 local banks close to a 100K and all they had to do was call us to verify its authenticity. Instead these guys were going to branches, through the drive-ins and doing split deposits on $6000 checks, i.e. keeping 3K and depositing the rest. All of these accounts were new accounts at those banks.">>

I wouldn't think a bank would give THAT much cash back from a check unless the check was one of those "good funds" kind or you had at least that much in your balance.

IrishMike

Bajjerfan what the crooks did was buy a certified check from us with good funds, then went about creating a stamp and other devices to imitate it on other checks. When someone buys a certified check the funds are actually withdrawn from the account and put into suspense. So one bank ended up with the good check while several others did not. One bank called to verify its validity and were told their check was good, it so happened they had the good check. However at about the same time his crew was hitting their branches with bogus checks and the tellers were more than willing to deposit half the check and give them 3 grand in return. Its teller 101 that when a client does a split deposit that a red flag should come up big time. What is more incredible is that these were business checks and they should always be taken for deposit only and the only cash given back is the good funds already in the account. You then put a hold on the deposit after telling the client you are doing so. Not one of the banks folllowed this proven routine. Sadly some employees lost their jobs for not following this policy.

MadMonk

I'm curious as to what you were selling. Bullion? Certified coin?

JadeRareCoin

So one bank ended up with the good check while several others did not. One bank called to verify its validity and were told their check was good, it so happened they had the good check. However at about the same time his crew was hitting their branches with bogus checks and the tellers were more than willing to deposit half the check and give them 3 grand in return.

I don't understand. So, please tell me if this is correct: The first check deposited was the valid check. Then others in the crew deposited the bad checks at branches belonging to the same bank that the first check was deposited. Then there must have been something in the computer that said that the first check deposited was verified and deemed valid. Since the tellers at the other branches saw in the computer system that a check issued from the same bank was verified to be valid, that they just assumed the others were valid. Right?

Most banks will not give cash back on a deposit unless you have a matching amount in your account. Also, I can't believe that a bank allowed a split deposit on a business deposit. Crazy.

I also assume that they went through the drive thru to avoid the cameras.........

Scum-buckets!

JadeRareCoin

K6AZ, is there any way that you can follow this case to learn of the outcome? I think that they have no option other than to stake out the private mail box and wait for the crook to appear. My guess is that the crook will call each day to see if he/she has any mail. If so, he will run in to get the package and then split. The USPS should send him a bogus parcel so that he will need to go in to the private mail box to retrieve the package and then..........WHAM! 10-15 in a federal penitentiary. I hope that they catch the responsible party.

LanLord

Do you think the Post office is going to set up a sting to try to apprehend the guy?

Did they ask you to confirm that the Item was sent so the guy will go to the mailbox and check it?
That would be sweet justice to see the look on his face when/if they slap the cuffs on him when he reaches in the box.

IrishMike

<< <i>So one bank ended up with the good check while several others did not. One bank called to verify its validity and were told their check was good, it so happened they had the good check. However at about the same time his crew was hitting their branches with bogus checks and the tellers were more than willing to deposit half the check and give them 3 grand in return.

I don't understand. So, please tell me if this is correct: The first check deposited was the valid check. Then others in the crew deposited the bad checks at branches belonging to the same bank that the first check was deposited. Then there must have been something in the computer that said that the first check deposited was verified and deemed valid. Since the tellers at the other branches saw in the computer system that a check issued from the same bank was verified to be valid, that they just assumed the others were valid. Right?

Most banks will not give cash back on a deposit unless you have a matching amount in your account. Also, I can't believe that a bank allowed a split deposit on a business deposit. Crazy.

I also assume that they went through the drive thru to avoid the cameras.........

Scum-buckets! >>




That is correct, a good check was deposited at Bank A and the rest of the crew did split deposists at 3 of their branches with doctored forgeries. Back in the 80's deposits and withdrawals did not show up on a bank computer screen and many banks worked off paper, i.e. computer print outs. Not only did they pull this off at this bank but every other bank in our area took the same hits. They had set up a half dozen business accounts in the previous us month and transacted legitimate business with these bank accounts. I don't think many if any banks even do certified checks any more. They issue official bank checks aka as cashiers checks. After this incident we quit issuing them.

BAJJERFAN

I was gonna say in this scenario that "a" good check and "the" good check were not necessarily the same check.

BAJJERFAN

<<"My guess is that the crook will call each day to see if he/she has any mail.">>

He will probly have someone else look for him cuz if he called and they were waitin for him they would just say yes. Here the mailbox doors are blacked out so you can't see inside. Apparently folks were lookin thru the glass doors and if they saw anything that looked like it contained a check they smashed the glass door and pilfered the contents.

AuldFartte

Thank you very much for posting this, K6AZ

VERY helpful information!!!

stormsurge

Thanks for the info!

0john0

Thanks for the heads up. I never would have known. Glad you didn't get burned.
-J