Police: Fake traveler's checks making rounds

Counterfeit traveler's checks have been used at six different local retailers in the last three weeks, Palo Alto police reported this week.

[marc]

my friend was asked to go to check cashing places and cash some 500.00 visa traveler checks for a ten percent bonus to do this he was given 3000.00 total amount to cash. they are coming out of new york and contacting people through the internet. heard anything about this?

[Carl]

I was contacted by someone possing as a female through a internet personal ad. After a few e-mail conversations she told me that she was stuck in Africa and could not get her cash, could I help her out and wire her the money. Did not think much of it until a Fed-ex package arrived at my door step with $500 (AAA) Visa Travelers checks totaling $3,000. Her story was full of red flags so I took them to the local (AAA) Visa office. They were fakes. The (AAA) office told me there is a lot of this things going around.

[toquesha]

marc wrote:

my friend was asked to go to check cashing places and cash some 500.00 visa traveler checks for a ten percent bonus to do this he was given 3000.00 total amount to cash. they are coming out of new york and contacting people through the internet. heard anything about this?

yes i have i have had this same thing happen to me what did you do about it?

[toquesha]

hi carl yes i had this happen to me this week actually so thanks because of your article i was able to go to AAA as well and sure enough the traveler checks where fake thanks

Carl wrote:

I was contacted by someone possing as a female through a internet personal ad. After a few e-mail conversations she told me that she was stuck in Africa and could not get her cash, could I help her out and wire her the money. Did not think much of it until a Fed-ex package arrived at my door step with $500 (AAA) Visa Travelers checks totaling $3,000. Her story was full of red flags so I took them to the local (AAA) Visa office. They were fakes. The (AAA) office told me there is a lot of this things going around.

[UPS store 5833]

We got a black women come to our store to purchase some merchadise and want to received some cash back on her 100$ traveler check from AAA.
Our bank call us today, to inform us the traveler check is fake......So from now on we will never received traveler check at our store any more.

[rob]

marc wrote:

my friend was asked to go to check cashing places and cash some 500.00 visa traveler checks for a ten percent bonus to do this he was given 3000.00 total amount to cash. they are coming out of new york and contacting people through the internet. heard anything about this?

i got the same thing mailed to me..

[Nita]

marc wrote:

my friend was asked to go to check cashing places and cash some 500.00 visa traveler checks for a ten percent bonus to do this he was given 3000.00 total amount to cash. they are coming out of new york and contacting people through the internet. heard anything about this?

This just happened to us, we found the job through craigslist. We had no idea, we were not comfortable with it but went ahead, so I guess now these will come back and we got screwed out of $2500.00. All we wanted to do was make a little extra money.

[Nita]

We found a job on craigslist looking for a bookkeeper. We were looking to make a little bit of extra money. We checked into the company and found nothing that seemed amiss so we went ahead. Our Fed Ex envelope contained $2500.00 (5 $500.00 AAA visa travelers checks) We deposited them to our account on Thursday and wired the money on Monday. Wish we had known about this before we went ahead. Should have listened to our innerself.

[jen]

So I was looking for a nanny job on the internet and found one. The family and I emailed back several times. He guy then said he would pay me two weeks in advance and that his agent would be sending me the money. When the AAA travelers checks came, it was in the amount of $4,000 dollars (8 $500 pieces). I was supposed to cash them, take out $900 for myself then wire the rest via western union so he could buy airfare for his 3 children and come back home. It sounded fishy but I did it anyway. Then he calls me the next day and says that he needs $750 of the money he paid me. Still sounding fishy, I looked into scams and found a nanny scam sounding just like the one i am involved with. So I wrote the guy back saying that I had spent the money on my bills and that I couldn't send him money. A couple of hours later, I wrote him an email saying that I know this is a scam. The $900 is still in my back account but I am not touching any of it. Any recommendations for me on what next to do?

[Atul]

i got the same check from a lady from Holland but the checks of amount 3000 dollars(6 of them $500 each) came from London, after reading so many articles i think they are fake or may be somebody is claiming the fraud money from all of us, when i read all your responses i think that they first send us huge amount of these AAA new york payed checks and then want us to return them some money,

Any thoughts of what should i do??????

[broke as you]

I am sitting here looking at 3500 dollars in travellers cheques, if you look closely at the small print numbers , left of center, on the front you will see they reall only say 50, the third digit on the corner is also not shaped like the one next to it. the dove watermark, is not a watermark, but a shadow from the other side. those are the obvious mistakes. another mistake, is that all the cheque serials are in perfect order, from 412- 418.

while it is all good that I found these things out, I have already sent the item they purchased, a 3500 dollar guitar that I hand built. so now the question is, who will ensure that I am paid if these are fake, which is obviously the case.

[Nita]

whatever you do, do not process those checks. My husband and I did, we thought he had a job working for this guy in London, he actually set us up and now we have to figure out how to pay the bank back $2500.00. Call the police

[manny]

I just received $2500 in you guessed it, AAA visa checks...almost went to the bank to cash them..I'm sorry for those of you that have been scammed but thanks for the warning

[Christie]

I also recieved 3,000.00 in Traveler's Cheques, am supposed to cash them and wire the money to Nigeria. I have not taken them to the bank. Im not sure what to do. The package came from a person in GA. Anyone have same situation? Should I take the checks to AAA to check authenticity?

[jen]

how long until you guys found out that they were fake and the bank notified you? I wrote the banker an email stating what my situation was as well as the police department, but nobody has written me back and it has been a week.

[Bob]

I'm an internal auditor at a financial institution and have read your messages. We have received the same AAA VISA travelers checks from our customers. I dialed 800-227-6811 to validate them .. yes, they are counterfeit. Good luck.

[David]

Nita wrote:

We found a job on craigslist looking for a bookkeeper. We were looking to make a little bit of extra money. We checked into the company and found nothing that seemed amiss so we went ahead. Our Fed Ex envelope contained $2500.00 (5 $500.00 AAA visa travelers checks) We deposited them to our account on Thursday and wired the money on Monday. Wish we had known about this before we went ahead. Should have listened to our innerself.

I just deposited 5 travelers checks totalling $2500 in my bank and they put a "hold" on them. I think it might be the same deal you had. Did the bank cause you any trouble over it/?? I wonder if I will be held liable for passing bad travelers checks-- I haven't tried to take any money out yet...

[David]

I just put $2500 in AAA VISA travelers checks in the bank that I got in a FEDEX package that Ihad to go pickup. I think they are fake, but didn't think about it until I read this post. Will I be help responsible for passing bad travelers checks?? I was just trying to make some extra money as I'm unemployed. What is the legal situation with this??? I saw the ad in Daily Breeze and thought it might be ok, even though it "didn't feel right"-- I'm hurting for cash so thought I'd do that.. What will happen now?? I haven't tried to draw out any money yet...

[maria -aaa via checks]

david i just received 2500.00( 5-$500.00) aaa visa travelers checks from united kingdom, they have instructed to cash in my bank and wire back to someone in united kingdom, minus the deducted west union fee. to release my inhertence funds of 15million. what should i do

David wrote:

I just put $2500 in AAA VISA travelers checks in the bank that I got in a FEDEX package that Ihad to go pickup. I think they are fake, but didn't think about it until I read this post. Will I be help responsible for passing bad travelers checks?? I was just trying to make some extra money as I'm unemployed. What is the legal situation with this??? I saw the ad in Daily Breeze and thought it might be ok, even though it "didn't feel right"-- I'm hurting for cash so thought I'd do that.. What will happen now?? I haven't tried to draw out any money yet...

[maria -aaa via checks]

i just recieved 2500.(5-500.00) aaa v isa checks
from united kingdom they intructed to cash in bank and wire to some one in united kingdom , minus west. union fee to proceed the release of my inhertance of 1.5mil.