SCAMMY SCAMMING SCAMMERS

Gregory Stanley
Oct 1, 2025
3 min read

Every 6 months or one of my new clients will ask me to settle a debt they have with a local person. Sometimes they even send me a check with a healthy premium for me to handle settling the debt. I never cash these checks so I have saved over half a million dollars of really nice looking, but fake, checks. The scam is a “fake check scam” and is the first of five scams we will look at in this article.

Fake Check Scam

Some scammers will ask you for some help or want your service or even a product you are selling and send a check made out to you. They give some reasonable excuses for why they sent too much, and at some point they ask you to send the extra money back to them or in my case to someone else. The bank check or money order they send will be very convincing with a metal strip, watermark, and so on, and it will show as a deposit in your account, until your bank realizes discovers the check was fraud, fake, or just bad, the scammer already has the money you sent them. You’ll be stuck repaying the bank. I took the first of these checks (this one was from a Canadian bank) to my banker who said “NO!” Do not deposit it! So, I didn’t, and I never heard from the new client again. Ask your banker, not just the teller, if you should deposit a check, then give it plenty of time to cure before you disburse any refunds.

Fake Invoices and Unordered Goods

Sometimes we receive invoices that look like we ordered products or services such as pens or shirts, but we didn’t order anything from that company. I suspect the scammer hopes that my partner pays the bills while I am out ordering pens and stuff. They hope she will assume the invoices are real and make the payment. But the information used is gleaned from things I really had looked at or ordered from another company online. But these invoices are fake. Sometimes scammers call the office and say they need to verify the mailing address or confirm an order. Sometimes they offer a free product to try out. If you say yes, then unordered merchandise will arrive with an invoice. If it happens to you, I’d suggest you do not pay. Ever since Columbia House mail-order record club (scam) of the 1970s if you receive merchandise you didn’t order, you have a legal right to keep it and use it for free.

Online Listing and Advertising Scams

Some scammers will sell nonexistent advertising or ask for your business info for a free listing in a business directory. Later, you’ll get a small bill, and the scammer may use details — or even a recording — of the earlier call to pressure you to pay.

Impersonation Scams

There have been Scammers try to scare or rush you into paying or giving them payment information immediately over the phone and they can be convincing:

The utility company calls and your gas, electric, or water service is about to be interrupted because of a (fake) late bill. If you pay they take the money but it never goes to the utility company.

The sheriff deputy calls because you missed a court date or jury duty and because of eth crackdown on illegal aliens you must pay the fine immediately or they will come arrest you. The number will show as the sheriff’s number. Hang up, look up the sheriff number and call them and ask.

Other Common Scams in Alabama

Some scammers call and convince you to buy “required” workplace compliance posters that you can get for free from the U.S. Department of Labor.

Some scammers say they’re calling from a tech company, threatening that your business will lose its website URL if you don’t make a small payment immediately. Once they have your payment info they can bill what they want and disappear.

Some scammers claim they can replace negative reviews of your product or service, add positive reviews, or boost your scores on ratings sites. However, posting fake reviews is illegal. FTC guidelines say endorsements — including reviews — must reflect the honest opinions and experiences of the endorser.

Sometimes scammers hide behind other questionable practices — like claiming to offer big-money gig economy jobs, but then failing to live up to their money-making promises. Or they may try to sell you unnecessary services with the false claim that you need to pay to improve your business’s credit report. And after natural disasters strike, unlicensed contractors and scammers may show up with false promises that they’ll get your business back up and running with quick repairs, clean-up, or debris removal that never happens.