The Pot of Gold

This scam happens more than you would think; the scammer offers you money because they are planning to visit your country, city or town and want to send money ahead for use whilst they are there, they feel that they 'trust' you to cash the check/bank draft for them. They may ask you to buy something with the money and send the item to them or their trip to meet up with you falls through, this is when they ask you to send the money back to them.

What actually happens is the scammer sends you a counterfeit cashier’s check and you end up losing the money you sent to them. The most important thing to remember is that you could be found guilty of cashing fraudulent checks.

Another twist on this scenario is that the scammer finds out that you are having money problems and offers to loan you a large amount of money using a cashier’s check, should you accept this, you may be threatened when you are not able to pay it straight back to them. The scammer having pushed you for your email address, phone number, or other personal information early on has all the information they need to find you.