Fraud prevention: Avoid overpayment scams

You’ve finally sold that item that’s been gathering dust on your shelf or in your garage. Great! The person who you’ve sold it to sends you a cheque but it’s more than what you were asking for the item. This isn’t a problem… or is it?

Overpayment scams are when you receive a cheque that has a value amount more than the initially agreed upon price. The buyer then asks you to fix their mistake by sending the difference back to them through an e-Transfer or Bitcoin ATM. It is only after you have completed the deposit and transfer funds that your credit union informs you the cheque on deposit has been returned as a non negotiable item and the funds will be withdrawn from your account.

Make sure you don’t deposit or send any money without doing due diligence first. These flags are a good indicator that something isn’t right. Keeping this in mind when you’re selling items online will help protect you and your finances!