The Truth vs. The Scam:

Work at home processing or reshipping checks, money orders, envelopes, and/or merchandise; receiving money wired into your account; writing checks on somebody else's account; secret shopper jobs; and forwarding cash received in a package or by mail.

This page: Writing and signing checks on someone else's account • Forwarding loose checks and envelopes.

Please take your time; read through the material carefully.

Basics of the scam • Forwarding package and/or payments • Money wired into your account • Re-wiring Western Union or MoneyGram payments • Writing checks • Forwarding loose checks and sealed envelopes • Secret Shopper jobs • Forwarding cash received by mail or package

Writing and signing checks on someone else's account

You cannot legally write your name on any account unless you have properly identified yourself with the bank and have signed the signature card. 

To be named a signatory on an account that is not your own, the account holder must clearly state that it is his or her wish that you be authorized to sign checks.  To authorize you to sign on his account, the account holder must complete a new signature card which you must also sign.  Before your signature is accepted by the account holder's bank, you must present valid identification to the bank, just like the account holder had to do when he opened the account.

To sign a check on an account that is not yours and on which you have not been listed as an authorized signer (see above) is a criminal act called forgery and you can be arrested, convicted, and sent to jail for committing forgery. 

To paste a person's signature on a check is a criminal act called forgery and you can be arrested, convicted and sent to jail for committing forgery.  A check is not valid unless the check itself has been signed.

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Forwarding loose checks and envelopes

Scammers will often send sealed envelopes and loose checks to their employee targets with forwarding instructions.

The loose checks, money orders, Traveler's checks, and other drafts are counterfeit and the recipients are other Payment Processing Scam and Overpayment Scam victims.

The sealed and addressed envelopes contain counterfeit checks and money orders - and sometimes cash - and the recipients are other work-at-home employment scam victims who have received forwarding instructions.

As stated earlier under Forwarding packages, when the scamployer asks you to spend your own money on shipping costs, in this case, to buy stamps and envelopes, don't think for a minute that you will be reimbursed.

When the scamployer provides a carrier account number, such as a FedEx account number, to cover mailing costs, the account number is one that has either been hijacked from a legitimate company (usually a large corporation) or one that has been paid for with stolen credit card information.

Scammers never spend their own money if they can help it, and they certainly never spend their own money on any of their victims.

Next: Secret Shopper jobs • Forwarding cash received by mail or package

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