Fake deposit in my checking - what is the scam?

January 26, 2022 1:09 PM

Someone deposited a nearly $2,000 check into my bank account, including filling out a deposit slip with the correct account number. Other than the huge problem of someone having this account number, what is the scam? No suspicious transactions have taken place in the month since the deposit.
posted by EL-O-ESS to Grab Bag (12 answers total)

Could this be a case of mistaken identity on the bank's part? For example, there is another person by my name who banks at my bank. He deposited some money into my account my accident once, with a teller's assistance.
posted by mkb at 1:19 PM on January 26, 2022 [5 favorites]

Bank routing numbers (the left number on your check that indicates what bank to route the transfer to) have a checksum digit in them that make it hard to accidentally typo them. Account numbers (the right number on your check that identifies an individual account) generally don't have a checksum digit, so most account numbers are valid.

It's far more likely someone accidentally transposed a digit in their account number or accidentally changed a digit. For better or worse, knowing your account number is not really a huge problem - check fraud/ACH fraud is very easy to do, but it's also very easy to trace and pursue by the bank/police. If someone wrote a fake check against your account, it'd be an obvious fake (not matching your signature/check style), they'd probably be on camera for whatever bank they deposited it at, and the account to which they deposited it to would be known. If someone did a fraudulent ACH transfer against your account, the same applies, plus insurance exists to avoid losses. In practice, check fraud/ACH fraud is non-existent against individuals.

Keep in mind your routing number/account number is known to every company and bank you either give a check to, or send/receive an ACH transfer to/from. It's not a secret.
posted by saeculorum at 1:20 PM on January 26, 2022 [16 favorites]

To complete my answer, report the false deposit to your bank immediately, and do not spend the money. Expect it to be removed in the next week. At that point, stop worrying about it.
posted by saeculorum at 1:21 PM on January 26, 2022 [19 favorites]

Best answer: The possible scam I can think of is that the scammer convinced someone to deposit a bogus check into your account (knowing your routing codes) and will now call you in the next day or so pretending to be the bank. They'll apologize for the 'mistake' and ask if you can help them out and to wire the money somewhere (before the bogus check is backed out of your account).

I'm with saeculorum, don't touch it and call the bank. If the bank attempts to call you, tell them you'll call back on the published customer service line.
posted by JoeZydeco at 1:28 PM on January 26, 2022 [33 favorites]

I agree with others that it's not all that surprising or concerning for people to have your account number. I mean, it's printed on every check you've ever written.

Concur with the above advice. Report to your bank (by reaching out to them through their established channels). Don't spend it. The return of funds should be handled by your bank, do not send money to anyone that asks you to "return" it to them.
posted by mosst at 1:30 PM on January 26, 2022 [12 favorites]

Don't just google for your bank phone # and take the top result, either. Scammers are buying google ads with fake telephone numbers that get placed above the real listings. A relative nearly got burned on that when googling their cable company and found the phone number for a fake call center.
posted by soylent00FF00 at 1:54 PM on January 26, 2022 [8 favorites]

Response by poster: Thanks everyone for the reassurance on the account number issue. The bank was already notified and the account frozen before I posed the question. I'm just very curious!

I guess two additional pieces of information: the check was made out to my spouse's (completely unique) name. The check is "from" (both bank-printed portion and signature) a googleable person in my local area. The check memo says, "Advance."

And the deposit slip is filled out in unrecognizable handwriting, with the "signature" portion just my spouse's name hand-written (but not actually a signature).

And yes, we're 100% sure spouse did not actually get and deposit a check from this person we've never heard of
posted by EL-O-ESS at 1:54 PM on January 26, 2022 [1 favorite]

Best answer: The check memo says, "Advance."

Before I read this I figured it was a mistake and now I am 99% certain it is an advance-fee scam, as has already been anticipated by several others.
posted by grouse at 2:16 PM on January 26, 2022 [21 favorites]

The scam has been well explained, I'd love to hear the followup on what form the attempt to get you to send them money happens in! I wanted to add: Don't worry about how they have your account number. It's not a secret. It's literally printed on every check you give out.
posted by Nelson at 2:26 PM on January 26, 2022 [8 favorites]

I'm also curious how the scammers were intending to play this one out. How did you first notice the deposit? Was it brought to your attention, or did you just notice it while doing your regular banking? If you got an unsolicited contact from the bank informing you of the situation, please confirm that it's actually the bank not a scammer playing a slightly longer game by asking you to 'verify your personal data', asking for the two-factor code that is texted to you when the scammer tries to reset your banking password, or some other scam.

But if I had to guess, I'd suspect that mkb is right, both you and a bank teller are mistaken about how unique your spouse's name is, and there is at least one other customer of the bank with the same name. I'd bet that the other person deposited the check in person, the teller looked up their account number, and found your spouse's account by mistake. The handwriting on the deposit slip is from the teller, and since they were depositing the check into the account of their own customer, they didn't require the customer to endorse it. (I know I've managed to deposit a check into my own account without endorsing it, and when I realized it on the way out the door, the teller wasn't concerned at all.)
posted by yuwtze at 4:37 PM on January 26, 2022 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: Spouse, whose name AFAIK is not shared by any person living or dead, was looking through our online statements for an unrelated reason and got curious enough about this deposit (from, again, a month ago) to look at the actual images of the check and deposit slip. No bank or person has ever contacted us about this.

So the scam was either
a) deposit check in our account and then contact us (as bank or person) for a "refund" before the check bounces, in which case their attempt to get in touch was so desultory that it never made it past our spam- and call-filters (and it's been a month since the check was deposited without it bouncing)
or
b) some convoluted version of the advance-fee scam where they get a third party (the check-writer) to make an advance payment in hope of some promised windfall, while posing as my spouse(?), deposit it into our account(?) and then (???)... possibly go back to a) and loop us into the whole thing?

I don't understand people.
posted by EL-O-ESS at 5:38 PM on January 26, 2022 [2 favorites]

Best answer: It’s simpler than that. The scammers made a deposit into the account on which the check was written. The check will clear when presented or already has done so. The scammers will then seek a refund from you, perhaps sweetening the pot by offering to let you keep some of the money, or perhaps threatening you with a criminal complaint for converting their funds. After they’ve gotten the “refund,” they will cause the original deposit to be reversed, which will then result in the retroactive dishonoring of the deposit it in your account, leaving you out whatever you “refunded.”

Because it is in fact illegal to retain improperly deposited funds, you have to be very careful dealing with both the bank and the scammers if they call you. Don’t expressly refuse the scammers’ request for a refund, because that could be used against you. Just tell them to call the bank or law-enforcement. Likewise take care with how you froze the account, because the bank that honored the check will soon or later come to take those funds back and will be entitled to do so. You cannot be in the position of appearing to try to block that reversal of funding.
posted by MattD at 6:46 PM on January 27, 2022