Report a scam

Fake check and overpayment scams: warning signs, what to do and where to report

Do this now

  • If a check or cashier’s check has just been deposited and you are being asked to wire, transfer or gift-card back part of the amount, contact your bank before sending anything — do not act on the balance showing as “available.”
  • Do not send money, gift cards or cryptocurrency against funds from a check that has not been confirmed as cleared by the issuing bank, even if your own bank shows the money as available to spend.

This cornerstone covers fake check and overpayment scams, a pattern that appears across job offers, online sales, rental deposits, mystery-shopper assignments and sweepstakes wins: a scammer sends a check for more than the amount actually owed and asks the recipient to deposit it, then wire, transfer or gift-card back the difference.

The key point

Fake checks can look and even scan like real checks, including to bank staff and mobile-deposit apps, because they reuse real routing and account details or are produced with convincing counterfeit printing. Banks are generally required to make deposited funds available within a few business days, long before a fake check is identified as fraudulent — sometimes weeks later. When the check is eventually returned, the deposited amount is reversed from the recipient’s account, and the recipient — not the bank — is responsible for repaying any amount already sent onward.

The core protection is timing: treat “the funds are available” as different from “the check has cleared,” and do not send money based on a check until the bank confirms the check itself has actually been paid by the issuing bank.

Warning signs to notice

  • Signal 1: Someone paying for a job, a purchase, a rental deposit or a prize sends a check for more than the amount owed and asks for the difference to be sent back.
  • Signal 2: The instruction is to wire the money, send gift cards or use a payment app “right away,” often before the check has fully cleared.
  • Signal 3: The payer insists on a cashier’s check, money order or a check drawn on an unfamiliar business or personal account.
  • Signal 4: Urgency is emphasised — a shipping deadline, an expiring offer or a “final notice” — to discourage verification.
  • Signal 5: Contact happened mainly through message, email or a classifieds ad, and the paying party avoided a phone call or video verification.

Safer next steps

  1. Do not send money, gift cards or cryptocurrency against a deposited check until your bank confirms the check has actually been paid by the issuing bank, not just made available in your balance.
  2. Call your bank and ask specifically whether the check has cleared, not just whether the funds are currently showing as available.
  3. Refuse any transaction structured around accepting a check for more than the price and returning the difference.
  4. Verify the payer independently — call the employer, buyer or agency using a number found separately, not one provided in the message.
  5. If you have already sent money against a check that later bounced, contact your bank immediately and ask about next steps; do not send further money to try to “fix” the situation.
  6. Report the check and the request to your bank’s fraud department and to the relevant national fraud-reporting body.

Important: A bank showing funds as “available” in your balance is not the same as the check having cleared — a fake check can bounce weeks after the money appeared available, and the account holder remains liable for anything already sent out.

Questions that create a useful pause

  • Has the bank confirmed the check has actually been paid by the issuing bank, not just that funds are showing as available?
  • Is the amount being paid more than what is actually owed, with a request to send back the difference?
  • Can the payer be reached and verified through a number or address found independently of the message?

Evidence to preserve—only when safe

  • Keep the physical or scanned check, the routing and account numbers, and any message or email that came with it.
  • Record the dates the check was deposited, when funds showed as available, and any bank correspondence about the check’s status.
  • Save details of any payment already sent back — amount, method, date and recipient.

Do not send further payment to try to resolve a bounced check — contact the bank directly instead.

Where to report

  • Report the check to the bank where it was deposited and ask for its fraud department.
  • If the check arrived by mail, report it to the postal inspection service in the country it was sent from.
  • File a report with the national fraud-reporting body for the country where the payment was made.

Use independently found official contact details. Never rely on a number or link supplied by the person who sent the check.

Supporting another person

If someone tells you they have just deposited a check and been asked to send part of it back, encourage them to call their bank before sending anything, even if the transaction feels time-pressured. Avoid implying blame — fake checks are designed to pass normal-looking verification, including for experienced people.

What may happen next

A bank may reverse the deposited amount from the account once a check is identified as fraudulent, sometimes weeks after the funds first appeared available, leaving the account holder responsible for repaying any amount already sent onward. Treat a returned-check notice from the bank as confirmation to stop all further payment connected to that transaction, not as something to resolve by sending another payment.

Frequently asked questions

If my bank shows the funds as “available,” is the check safe to act on?

No. Funds-availability rules require a bank to make deposited funds accessible within days, but confirming whether a check is genuine can take much longer. Treat “available” and “cleared” as different things.

Who is responsible if a fake check bounces after money has already been sent?

The account holder who deposited the check is generally responsible for repaying the bank, even if the money was sent onward to someone else in good faith. This is why confirming the check has cleared before sending any money back is the critical step.

Are legitimate overpayments ever real?

Genuine refunds or overpayments do occur, but a legitimate business corrects an overpayment by reversing the original charge or issuing its own refund, not by asking the recipient to wire back cash from a newly deposited check.

Sources and review record

This cornerstone provides general safety information, not legal, medical or financial advice. Emergency, reporting and provider procedures can change.