Overpayment Scams
Posted under: We have a number of web design clients in the Hotel and Leisure industry. A common scam that is reported to us by these clients is the “overpayment” scam.
This is where a potential holidaymaker contacts the hotel by email and offers to book a number of rooms for a large party. They are generally coming from overseas and want to know the total so that they can send a cheque to secure the booking.
When the cheque arrives, it is for an amount far in excess of the actual cost of the booking. When the hotelier contacts the customer to let them know of the mistake, they are told that the cheque has been issued for the total cost of the holiday, including flights. To “avoid the hassle” of the customer issuing another cheque, the hotelier is asked to bank the cheque and send the remainder of the money to a “travel agent” via Western Union Money Transfer to pay for the flights.
So what’s the scam?
The cheque is stolen or forged. Whilst it will probably clear into the account, as soon as the bank discover the fraud they will reclaim the money from your account, leaving you out of pocket and having to answer a lot of questions about the fraudulent cheque that you’ve “laundered” through your account.
How do I avoid it?
Be wary of overseas enquiries, especially if the customer doesn’t seem to care about the price of the booking. Ideally, you should ask for a deposit by credit card to secure the booking, with the balance payable in cash on arrival. Then you should do a “code 10″ authorisation with your credit card merchant to ensure that the card is not stolen. If you do receive a cheque that is for more money than the booking, return the cheque to the customer and ask them to send you one for the correct amount.
Does this only apply to hoteliers?
No. We’ve also had overpayment scams reported by advertisers on Craigslist, Ebay, Gumtree and many other advertising venues targetting sellers of all sorts of products and services. In these instances, the sellers have been asked to send the excess money to a “shipping agent” or other such third party. Whatever the premise, the scam is the same.
We now have a great range of PC and Home Security products available in the Scam Detectives Security Supplies online store (powered by Amazon).
After reading you blog, Your blog is very useful for me .I bookmarked your blog!
Wishes your valentine day to be joyful!