Too GOOD to be TRUE

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I always daydream about coming up on a large amount of money…you know some kind of rebate, award, lost payment I never received! Well, today when I was opening my mail, there was a check for more than $2500 looking me right in the face! An “official” check made out to ME, and I thought, what perfect timing (I just made a big purchase, so funds are on the lower side). My first thought was, I need to go to the bank and cash this ASAP…what time is it, is the bank still open??? Then, I thought, well even if it is a mistake, it has MY name on it! Then I noticed a letter attached to it, which said this is payment for the research study you agreed to participate in, etc… Now, I did sign up for one – I do those periodically when they apply to me and the “incentive money” is decent…BUT it has never been in the thousands!

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At any rate, once my (common) sense took over, I realized this is just not right, what’s the deal!?!? So, I did what any normal person does these days, I took it to google to search the company, etc… Well, I did find a “legit” website, but no posts of warnings or a notice of a scam or anything. However, as I continued to dig, there it was, a very similar story about a scam where people are sent (fake) checks in a large amount and told to wire a certain amount of the check, since it’s a research study involving a money transfer/wiring company. And then people do it, but the check never clears at the bank…it just bounces. Then by the time anyone catches on…it’s too late! So, I think it’s safe to say…it’s the same SCAM! Grrrr…. I even looked up the bank it said the check was from..and that bank does indeed seem to exist. The other “flags” I noticed when I took a closer look, is who it said the check was from, not the name the said research company, but an individual. Also, no address was listed for the issuing bank. Oh well, it was nice for a second to think I was up a few thousand bucks, but I’m definitely lucky enough to know when it’s too good to be true!