99% sure it's a scammer.. but a catch to it?

[LazyLion]

If you can, try to empty your bank account after he's paid the money, just to be sure. Sometimes monkeys work at the bank so their assurance doesn't mean much

Doesn't help in my experience. If the bank thinks you owe them money they will just put your account into overdraft, charge you a fee for that and the next batch of money that comes into your account will simply apply towards paying off the overdraft. It happened to me with a bounced cheque.

 

[Praeses]

Doesn't help in my experience. If the bank thinks you owe them money they will just put your account into overdraft, charge you a fee for that and the next batch of money that comes into your account will simply apply towards paying off the overdraft. It happened to me with a bounced cheque.

Must they make it so difficult just to be assured that you don't get fraudulent money?

 

[LazyLion]

Must they make it so difficult just to be assured that you don't get fraudulent money?

well, you don't expect them to take the loss do you? The transaction was between you and the scammer, had nothing to do with them. They took money from one account and put it into another one, suddenly it turns out that there was not actually any money there for them to transfer, so they reverse it and the responsibility is up to you to ask the buyer why there was no money transferred.

That is why the best transaction is face to face cash, or something like Postal Orders which can only be bought with real cash. I don't know much about escrow services, but I know they exist, that is another option.

 

[Gnome]

well, you don't expect them to take the loss do you? The transaction was between you and the scammer, had nothing to do with them. They took money from one account and put it into another one, suddenly it turns out that there was not actually any money there for them to transfer, so they reverse it and the responsibility is up to you to ask the buyer why there was no money transferred.

Actually I personally see it as a service provided by the bank. If the bank guarantees that the transfer was successful and the amount suddenly disappears I expect them to take responsibility. I can almost guarantee they won't tho.

As far as I know US banks refund your money and themselves claim insurance for fraud?

 

[sn3rd]

Doesn't help in my experience. If the bank thinks you owe them money they will just put your account into overdraft, charge you a fee for that and the next batch of money that comes into your account will simply apply towards paying off the overdraft. It happened to me with a bounced cheque.

That happened to me: the funds turned out to be bogus, and they debit-ordered my account (from Dube branch in Soweto). Went to my banker in Pretoria and he sorted it out quick-quick, after a nasty phone call to Dube branch (apparently that is not the correct procedure for reversing a payment).

 

[LazyLion]

Actually I personally see it as a service provided by the bank. If the bank guarantees that the transfer was successful and the amount suddenly disappears I expect them to take responsibility. I can almost guarantee they won't tho.

As far as I know US banks refund your money and themselves claim insurance for fraud?

I dunno. I guess the bank has to decide whether to lose the money on the fraud or whether to lose you as a customer. Which is going to cost them more?

 

[guest2013-1]

The way the scam work is as much as you described. Happend to a friend of mine. He wanted an EFT and they said no problem. In the end they said cash deposit and he agreed. What they did was to tear away the middle copy of a cheque deposit slip and push a cash deposit slip copy in the middle.

So when the bank deposited the cheque into his account, they signed and stamped the cash deposit slip without checking. So then all they had to do is fax through the cash deposit slip.

The money reflects immediately in the bank account but it takes a while for it to clear for you to use. Once they figure out the cheque was stolen they reverse the deposit (at a cost to you, not sure but ABSA did this)

My friend's dad is a lawyer and they sent through an order to sue because of ABSA's reluctance to investigate or take blame for a mistake their employees made (basically assisting with the scam without checking all relevant documentation)

Never got anywhere though and he was out a PSP and several games...

 

[Gnome]

Sounds like good ol' ABSA.

Aren't they doing the same for Internet Fraud?

 

[D4N]

This is BS, bank charges are high and they need to protect us.

 

[quik1]

Word of caution!! I was contacted twice already by guys similar to these ones. One was from Uganda and the other from a goverment department in SA (pretoria). The ppl in Uganda ordered R200 000 worth of stock and the gov department wanted R120 000 worth of cartridges. Everything seemed original and they evan had a letterhead from the gov department. It turned out to be fake both times! I waited a couple of days before i shipped out and the money was reversed . luckely i had a gut feeling and waited the 7 days. i wanted to draw the money b4 i shipped (just to be safe and have the cash in my hand) Just take caution b4 doing anything.

 

[.Froot.]

Just shows you how many corrupt people there are these days.

 

[Beginner]

Be very carful with this kind of transactions as i have worked in the fraud dept for some banks and what happens sometimes is that the depositer gets a fake letterhead with signatories. They get a bank to pay money to the beneficiary based on this letterhead. A few days later when the bank tries to confirm payment it is noted that it is a "false" transaction and reversed.
The bank feels that at the end of the day they are trying to protect everyone so reversing the transaction is within their rights as well as the consumers. If you are gonna go through with the transaction first wait for payment to be cleared - then wait about 5 days and contact your bank advising them that you need to confirm with the sending bank if all details on this payment is valid as you are not 100% sure of the payer.......this can save you quite a bit of heartache and money.....hope it helps..