You cannot believe your luck!
Someone has just offered to pay you more than the purchase price for
merchandise you are selling on the Internet. All you have to do is
accept a postal money order as payment; keep the price of the item and
a bit extra as a "gift" for your help; and, wire the remainder of the
funds to your customer. Is this deal "too good to be true?"
Yes, advises the Better Business Bureau, who warns consumers and
businesses to exercise care when approached by eager buyers requesting
"help" cashing domestic or international postal money orders. The
"buyer" often claims to be living in a foreign country. These scam
artists target private citizens, as well as small Internet retailers
and classified advertisers located in the U.S. Sometimes the scam
artists use e-mail and online auctions to perpetrate this fraud; other
times, the telephone. In any case, the scammer expresses an interest in
purchasing the merchandise and offers to send a money order through the
mail. Sometimes the victim is told up front that the money order will
be for more than the purchase price and that he or she should keep the
extra funds as payment for their assistance. Other times, the
"purchaser" claims to have made a mistake and asks the seller to refund
the difference. Either way, the victim is told to ship the requested
merchandise immediately and, to return the "excess funds" – either by
wiring them to a bank or person located outside the U.S. or by
enclosing them with shipment of the merchandise.
The victim then cashes or deposits the postal money order, assuming the
financial document to be legitimate. That is when they learn that the
money order is a fake. If the money was deposited, the victim’s account
is debited for the full amount once the bank discovers the money order
to be counterfeit. At the very least, the victim loses the merchandise
already shipped to the "buyer." In addition, he or she will likely be
questioned by bank personnel and other officials about their
involvement in the fraud.
Postal money orders have many security features to help verify their
legitimacy, according to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. To check
that a money order is authentic, hold it up to the light and look for
Ben Franklin images repeated on the left side (top to bottom) and a
dark security thread running (top to bottom) to the right of the
Franklin watermarks, with the tiny letters "USPS" facing backward and
forward. If either of these security features is not present, the
postal money order is a fake. Also, be aware that denominations appear
in two locations. If denomination amounts are discolored, that
indicates they have been erased. U.S. Postal money orders are printed
on crisp textured paper stock with a maximum value of $1,000; the
maximum value for international postal money orders is $700.
If you have questions about accepting postal money orders, contact your
local Post Office, call the fraud hotline at 1.800.472.8347 or visit www.usps.com/postalinspectors.