Lately there's been a ton of media coverage over check scams and job scams lately.  But what happens when the two get combined?  You get the e-mail I received yesterday from a local consumer.  After working for a week doing research about products needed for a supposed vendor, this person found what this company was looking for and was instructed to deposit a check in their bank account and then pay the vendor via money transfer.  A clear sign of a check scam.  This person wisely contacted me because of the suspicious nature of the instructions given by the "boss" of this company.

Obviously the vendor this person was supposed to send the money to was located in Europe which would make tracking the transaction almost impossible.  What shocked me was that this company asked for bank numbers, routing numbers, maximum withdraw limit, etc. so just imagine how much personal information this scam company almost got out of this person.  A little research and supporting documentation traced this company to a town in Massachusetts so I contacted the Boston, MA Better Business Bureau who will now try and track the company down.

This consumer was very lucky to walk out of this scam unscathed, but you can see how easy it is to fall into a trap like this.  Remember that anyone who asks you for a money transfer to conduct business or asks you to deposit a check and then send money back is scamming you almost 100% of the time.  The best course of action to to call your BBB because we get these all the time and can help shine the light on companies like this.