#check fraud

TLDR: If a commisioner ignores your instructions, sends you a ton of money upfront via a check asking you to deposit and send back a portion of money- DO NOT. So back in Nov 10 I got an email commission which started okay: "I hope this message finds you well. I am reaching out to you because I am impressed by your portfolio and believe your artistic style would be a fantastic fit for an upcoming project I am coordinating.

I am currently in the process of assembling a team and I need a talented illustrator to collaborate on the title, Pandemic: Precaution and Prevention. Your work stood out to me due to its vibrant colors, character choices and attention to detail.

If you are interested, I would love to discuss the project further and provide more details about the scope, timeline, and compensation. Please let me know if this opportunity aligns with your current availability and if you would be open to discussing it further.

He wanted to create 6 group illustrations that would be printed and handed out for students 18-25 that would equate to $6000 at a 9 week turnaround. This raised an eyebrow but thought they were just a generous client. I gave him my procedure pipeline, starting with a min deposit upfront as a show of good faith. Also told him holidays are busy so will we start next year? He says that's fine. So far okay. "Considering the amount to be paid for the job, cashiers check or bank certified checks is our best bet. My sponsor doesn't use online payment platforms. He's an old-fashioned businessperson. The check will be issued and mailed to you and you should receive it within 5 days. Please get back to with your details in the format below:" Another raised eyebrow in this digital day and age but I've done previous freelance work that used mailed checks so I was alright with this. Only released my contact info and bank name.

Now the red flags pop up: On Nov 19 he sends this: "How are you doing today ? I'm so sorry for this, sincerely I do not find it easy to write this to you this moment , I have been so busy lately, the check is been made out for $6,000.00 which is cover for both phases. The sponsor asked for immediate refund for the 2nd phase as soon as the check clears your bank then you could proceed with the first 1-3. The 2nd phase is been postponed until further notice due to the sponsors personal issue, I will provide you the tracking information via USPS as soon as I have it so you could have it tracked yourself to know when exactly it will be delivered. My sincere apology for the inconvenience and do have a great day." So my requests were completely ignored, tells me a check is on the way with the full lump sum and I have to return half that amount. This is one method I've heard scammers get access of one's bank account with the poison check and you end up paying that half with your own actual money. Checked with friends and my own bank, sounds like a scam. Check arrives, and doing 30 minutes of Googling reveals so much warning stuff:

-So the names on the client email (Nicholas Jarry), and this name on the USPS (Christopher Williams) revealed on the first results are both famous sports players. One is a funny coincidence, two is suspicious. -quick Google of what a Keybank check is like, get an old warning about what to look for in legit checks, also tried calling Keybank on how to verify a check and explaining the scenario. -the address on the USPS belongs to a residential house that had another business also registered to it before that has gone inactive. -The Ace Cafe is real, but everything is inconsistent. The Hillcourt Dr address leads to a residential house, there is no LLC, and the logo belongs to a legit Orlando location that had closed last year and is opening in a new location, the address not matching whats on the check and names do not match either Jarry or Williams.

Meanwhile, the jobs:

Requires fully open availability. Schedules will be posted at most 72 hours in advance. You are not technically on 24/7 call, but are expected to drop everything if the call comes in. Advertised as full-time, only part-time hours will be assigned. If full-time hours were assigned, they would just barely cover rent in the same city.

Legally is somehow distinct from a pyramid scheme in ways that even the relevant regulatory bodies have trouble explaining.

Entry level. Requires 5 years experience and an active (specifically not even interim) TOP SECRET clearance.

Task scam. Has gotten wise to the tricks that let you skim bitcoin off them.

Has been freshly posted to the same site every day for a month. You have applied every day in that month. There is no acknowledgement that they have received your application.

Attempts obvious identity theft against you during the first round of interviews.

Requires you to move at least one hour from anyone you know to have something approximating a reasonable commute. Start dates are close enough that you must move on short notice. Will do a mass layoff almost exactly halfway through your probation period.

Extremely elaborate setup for a check fraud.

Legally... may actually qualify as a pyramid scheme. And is quite possibly also a credit card fraud ring.

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Thanks to my bankers. (A cautionary tale)...

Since I am a Justice of the Peace it is not unusual for total strangers to contact me out of the air about performing their wedding ceremony. However, the Contact dealt only in texts, no phone calls. Was I available to do a wedding Feb 2nd in Waterbury? What was my fee? They were out of state (No, you do not have to live in CT to get married in CT), could they mail a check to my address? yeah, yeah, yeah.

Then a week later they told me that the person paying for their videographer lumped his fee and mine together into one check - was that O.K.? (Immediately made me suspicious). However, that was over a week ago and I have heard nothing since. However, Monday the USPS told me I had a package from NJ arriving this week.

As of this a.m. I still had no check - if I didn't get one in the mail I was going to text him that 'no emails, no texts, NO CHECK = NO WEDDING'. When I received notice that my 'package' had been delivered, I went to the mailboxes to find a 2-day priority envelope with a check made out to me for $950. No sooner than I had gotten it in my apartment that I received a text asking if the check had been delivered, and when I cashed it (after taking my fee out of it) to contact him that I had {Does this 'cloak-&-dagger' shit send up red flags for you? It did for me}.

So, I took the $950 check to the bank and when I told the tellers what weirdo stuff surrounded this check, they said immediately: 'This Is A SCAM; we see them all the time.' So they called the credit union the check was written against and was told the check was totally bogus, and that the credit union had been receiving calls from banks around the country about bogus checks. So, first I texted the Contact and said that the bank was going to put a 3-day hold on the check and it would not be cashed in time for the wedding - next plan? After they responded I told them flat out - 2 banks have told me this check is totally bogus, so you need to find yourself another Justice of the Peace. When they got indignant, I told them 'the check is bogus and has been shredded' (I lied).' I have not heard from them after that.

I did call the police, but after talking with the officer, I decided that since I did NOT cash the check, I did not lose any money, so filing a report at this point was probably useless. However, if the Contact tries to contact me again, I will call the police again because I still have the check and the envelope it was mailed in.

@chelseaaworld @chelseaaworld @chelseaaworld @chelseaaworld

1. This spread organically on the internet and thousands of people were actually fucking stupid enough to commit check fraud.  This, to me, is the scariest option but I don't actually think it's the most likely.

2. It's a psyop pushed out by the government and the banks. Not that many people actually did it, the vast majority of people you saw or heard about on the internet didn't actually do it, or work and chase bank and confirmed it. I've heard up to 2 million people did it and that seems like absolute bullshit.  The government and banks used their media control to make it look like a bigger deal than it was to institute stricter financial control regulations for the average american, push towards central bank digital currencies, etc.. Times are getting tough, and more and more people are going to be pushed into committing financial crime. By using a controlled event, they can get ahead of the game and push closer towards their goal complete financial control with an excuse to do it.

3. (Imo, the most likely) A professional fraud and cyber-crime gang commited a large-scale heist agianst Chase Bank, and in a stroke of genius, pushed out a check fraud method to the internet wrapped as a 'money glitch' to convince people to commit check fraud using their own identities to help cover their tracks.

Professional level fraud is complex and requires a large team with different specializations working in unison and coordinating their attacks. Hackers use phishing, credential stuffing, cracked databases, and browser-jacking to take bank logins, passwords, and cookies. They also proxyjack the bank users' internet connection to appear as any bank transfers are coming from the victims own computer.  The team then moves all the money quickly and in unison before the banks catch on to what's going on. The funds are transferred to  aged bank accounts owned by stolen or fake identities, withdrawn, and laundered by money mules.

Another interesting thing to note is that these sophisticated, large-scale attacks are almost always done on holiday weekends, and this Chase Bank 'Money Glitch' phenomenon happened over Labor Day weekend.