I have included both donations together for convenience and I will
need you to re-direct the balance $1,800.00 on my behalf.
YES, THIS IS A SCAM.
This is an especially heartbreaking one because it sounds so real. But
the sentence I quoted above gives it away.
If anyone doesn't already know, this is how this scams works. The check
they send you is bogus, but it is well-forged and will take several days
or even weeks for this to be discovered. Many people do not realize that
even if a check "clears", if it is later found to be forged, the bank
will take the money back (and probably hit you with a fee and possibly a
criminal investigation). You write a check, which is sent not to them
directly but to a dummy organization. They take the $1800 and run.
Hopefully you have the money to cover it and don't depend on the check
they sent you; otherwise you get prosecuted for writing a bad check.
There is absolutely NO reason for someone to write a donation check and
ask you to send part of it elsewhere. If you are a 501c3, then you are
also endangering your status, because even if everything were on the
up-and-up, the donor can take a tax deduction for the whole donation,
even though the amount sent on should not get that treatment. You are,
at best, helping the donor to do money-laundering and evade taxes --
itself a potential crime.
I am a violinmaker, and a variation of this has appeared in the violin
world. Someone wants to buy a violin, but expresses doubt over the exact
amount -- perhaps they are from a different country, and the currency
fluctuates. So they send a bank check well over the amount. They ask
that the violin be sent by a designated private courier service, and a
check for the 'change' be included with the violin. In the end, the
check proves to be forged, and the maker is out both the instrument and
the 'change'. A bad scam.
This is the first I've seen of this scam directed at shelters. It's
despicable.
--Claire
[Posted in FML issue 5285]
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