by Amanda Fowler

Created on: July 31, 2009

Working in the fraud department of a bank for seven years, the most hateful part of my job was calling someone and telling them that the check they deposited was counterfeit. It's especially hard when the customer wired money through Western Union. A lot of customers are under the impression that the FDIC Insurance the bank advertises protects the customer against fraud. That is not the case. FDIC Insurance protects the customer if the bank fails. To be protected against fraud, it would be the customer's responsibility to obtain insurance on their own.

How can you determine if the check is valid or fake? Sometimes it's hard. You might have to do some research on your own. First thing to do is figure out the scenario on why you received the check. Here are just a few scenarios:

~You receive an e-mail or phone call by someone stating you won the Italian lottery. They have a check made out to you for millions of American dollars. However, in order or you to receive these funds, you have to pay foreign transaction fees. Don't worry because Italian lottery will send you a check for $4,500. Deposit this cashier's check and once the funds are available, withdrawal the cash and wire it through Western Union.

~ You receive an e-mail about a foreign company looking for bookkeepers. They need someone in the states that receive payment checks for the company from clients this company has in the United States. You are to deposit these checks, wait for them to become available, wire the funds through Western Union less 10%. You get to keep 10% for commission. Easy money right?

~You want to earn extra money doing part time work. You browse through the job banks online and find a mystery shopping job. You apply; receive a check in the mail for $4,500 with instructions that tell you to deposit the check. Then go to this store and spend this much of the money, that store and this much of the money, eat at this restaurant and that restaurant. The last thing is to wire the rest of the money through Western Union. Fill out a questionnaire on all the stores and restaurants, and even Western Union.

Ask yourself how you received the check. Usually these checks are sent through Fed-Ex or UPS. Check the return address. If the return address is in the states (which most of the time they are, and they are fake addresses) but it was supposed to be for the Italian lottery, or from a business then chances are it is fraudulent.

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