Money transfer scams

I'm in the security industry here in central Florida and have a client who wants to wire me money me money to protect his wife on shopping spree here in USA. I told client that I will invoice them after job, but they insist they want to pay up front. I know it's some type of scam. If I give them account number and routing number (it's already on everyone's checks) how can they hurt me if I wait tell the bank tells me check cleared and was good.

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It's unclear if they're wiring you money or if they're sending you a check, since in your last sentence you talk about the bank telling you the check has cleared. The usual MO is they send you a check or phony money order in excess of the "fee" and request you wire them back the difference. The check (or money order) ends up bouncing and you get hit with bank fees, plus if you wire them the money, well, you get the picture.

It has the earmarks of a scam. What do they want you to do for the "fee" and how much is the "fee"?

(heart)

I intend to live forever. So far, so good.

I still say it is a scam. I agree with stilllearning. You are in the security industry, you should know.

If they are wiring you the money, I'm not really seeing the down side for you. And if you are a security professional, they probably feel they can trust you not to take it and run.

It sounds a bit odd, but if the money is being wired in, it's going through the federal banking system to get there and would have to be collected funds at the other end before they would wire it to your bank account. But it might be worth opening a new bank account just for this purpose and not co-mingling it with your own money in case they found some way to reverse the transaction.

But if they are sending in a check and expecting you to wire money somewhere else then it's a scam. The check will be counterfeit.

Time to build a bigger bridge.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/11/2015 04:33AM by dspeakes.

I just realized (thus my edit) that they are hiring you to act as a bodyguard for the wife. If they are paying you up front and you will have collected the funds before doing the bodyguard work, I don't see the problem. Since you see a problem, I'm probably not understanding the details.

Checks will take at least 10 business days to be fully "cleared." Your bank will let you have access to the money usually after only a few days, but a counterfeit check could still bounce two weeks later. Releasing the funds is not the same thing as the check clearing the bank. You are at risk until it "clears."

So if they wire the funds, those should be good funds and not reversible. if they send a check, don't perform the services until the funds are actually clear. I assume this is someone purportedly overseas, so any check would not be drawn on a bank you can pick up the phone and call to find out if the check is good, or take it to their branch and cash it on the spot.

Time to build a bigger bridge.

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Money transfer scams

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