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You can receive an offer that contains a counterfeit check or money order through the postal mail or email. The counterfeit currency can be received as payment for an item you purchased or advertised for sale. Don't depend on the website or newspaper to recognize an unscrupulous buyer or seller. It can be received for lottery or prize winnings from a contest you didn't enter. It can be received as payment for a work-at-home job that requires you to return a portion of the monies. Legitimate work-at-home jobs require you to complete the employee interview process and don't require you to return any monies. The counterfeit payment can be for training as a “secret shopper”. Secret shoppers for a legitimate company aren’t required to pay an upfront fee or return monies after depositing the check.

It is possible for anyone to be the victim of a counterfeit currency scheme. These schemes are tricky. Just like every other scam, they prey on human vulnerabilities dangling the hope of whatever needs changing in the consumers' life. If you receive a check or money order that is part of an offer or advertisement that you didn't initiate, chances are when the check or money order is deposited, it can be fraudulent or have conditions you agree to once you deposit them that will change a provider of a service you use. Legitimate companies provide checks in advertisements that are used as coupon incentives towards future purchases. These checks can't be deposited in a bank account because they don't have a cash value.

The tricky part about counterfeit checks can be two things. First, the phone number printed on the check may or may not be the legitimate phone number of the bank issuing the check. When verifying a check yourself, use the phone number from Directory Assistance instead of the phone number printed on the check. This will verify that the bank actually exists at the location printed on the check. Second, the issuing bank and the account holder may be legitimate for the counterfeit check or money order but the signature is invalid. The depositor and the bank accepting the deposit don’t have a way of verifying the validity of the signature.

So, when you receive an offer or advertisement that is tempting but asks you to pay money upfront or return any monies after deposit, avoid the transaction like a plague. You can read the article about Overpayment Scams. If you have been the victim of one of these scams, you can contact the Federal Trade Commission in the USA or the RCMP in Canada. If you received an offer through the USA postal mail, you can also contact the USPS.

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