251
votes
Scam or Real: A woman from Facebook apparently needs my bank account to send money
Absolute scam. Any time anyone asks you to open a bank account so they can send you money and then you have to send some portion of it back to them, it's a guarantee that it's a scam.
What happens ...
- 10.1k
218
votes
Why is a friend asking me to make multiple Money Gram transfers in my name using his money?
Stop doing this. If your friend contacts you, don't answer until you've followed through on step 2.
Go get a lawyer. They might advise you to contact the police and tell the police what's been going ...
- 2,563
193
votes
Accepted
A friend asks me all the time to pick up money for her (Western Union, Moneygram)
I think it is likely that your “friend” is doing something illegal, and that she is putting these payments in your name to avoid getting caught. You may be being used as an unwitting money mule.
I ...
- 115k
143
votes
Stranger sent me $12,100
This is certainly some variation of the overpayment scam
There are many variants, but they usually start with a fraudulent payment of some type into your account. They payment may be a bad check, a ...
- 12.4k
115
votes
Why is a friend asking me to make multiple Money Gram transfers in my name using his money?
Scam/Criminal.
There is no limit how much money he can send into the world, so the excuse is BS.
Of course, nobody can say for sure, but the chances are that it is money laundering: Illegally ...
- 37.5k
114
votes
Accepted
Scam or Real: A woman from Facebook apparently needs my bank account to send money
The other answers describe why this is highly likely to be a scam.
This answer describes why you don't want to get involved, even in the unlikely case that it isn't a scam. I'm describing this using ...
- 1,322
110
votes
Random and anonymous `western union´money transfers into my account, is it a scam?
This is either a scam, or a legitimate error by the sender [more likely a scam, just due to statistical likelihood, though details are unclear]. Either way, the money isn't yours, and eventually you ...
- 41.5k
106
votes
How to prove that invoices are really unpaid?
You can't prove a negative.
Therefore, you cannot prove that an invoice is unpaid; it is assumed to be unpaid on claiming so, and the payer has to prove that he paid. That should be easy for him, if ...
- 37.5k
102
votes
Scam or Real: A woman from Facebook apparently needs my bank account to send money
Yes, it is a scam.
Think about it: Why would a stranger offer to give you money? Why would she need you to pay her own employees? She wouldn't. It is a scam.
You have more to lose than just the $...
- 115k
102
votes
How do you send money when you're not sure it's not a scam?
The two basic rules for not getting scammed while apartment hunting are:
Never sign the contract before you inspected the property in person
Never pay money to inspect a property in person
Carefully ...
- 23.7k
84
votes
What risks are there acting as a broker between PayPal and electronic bank transfers?
This sounds like a scam. Did they email you out of the blue to offer you this 'job', by any chance, and you'd never heard of them before? That's an incredibly large red flag in and of itself.
While I ...
- 1,458
80
votes
Is there a way to transfer $100 into a family member's US bank account on a daily basis?
I'm troubled by this: either the person is financially competent, or they are not.
If he's genuinely not financially competent, then I would say the trustee should not be handing them $3000/month and ...
79
votes
Accepted
Why is a transfer from an account to another not done instantly when it's not the same bank?
Because banks still rely on processes and software that were established many decades ago, when constant, semi-instant communication was not technologically possible. Instead, you would have batch ...
- 8,106
74
votes
Scam or Real: A woman from Facebook apparently needs my bank account to send money
Don't do it.
If it's not the classic scam described in Daniel Anderson's answer, then it's probably money laundering. In that case, the woman would actually wire you money, which you have to wire to ...
- 838
69
votes
Is there a way to transfer $100 into a family member's US bank account on a daily basis?
Have you considered a pull based system rather than a push based system?
Set up a bank account with the full amount.
Engineer or such that your relative can only access it via a debit card.
Set the ...
- 1,058
65
votes
Why don't unbanked people use cryptocurrency?
Let me tell you a true story that I observed in my working life about the importance of failsafes in financial transactions:
I was on my company's M&A team, preparing for the acquisition of ...
- 41.5k
61
votes
Accepted
Money transfer scam
I think you're overthinking it. They are likely nowhere near you and they don't actually want any puppies or the hassle of coming in person.
The likely way it works is: they wire you the money and ...
- 22.6k
61
votes
Why is my bank unable to track a direct transfer I made to another (fraudulent) account?
The other bank knows, but is protecting their customer's privacy
Th fact that a routing number was needed says it is a completely different bank. Your bank is not privy to customer data at other ...
56
votes
A friend asks me all the time to pick up money for her (Western Union, Moneygram)
So just to be clear, she gets so many of these ~$500 transactions she can't even make the time to show up and collect them all? Yet, she still holds down a day job cutting hair? You are on here ...
54
votes
Why don't unbanked people use cryptocurrency?
There are several reasons why cryptocurrencies are no option for everyday commerce:
Transfers are expensive. Most cryptocurrencies are designed in a way that you need to pay cryptocurrency to ...
- 23.7k
52
votes
Is this guy trying to scam me?
People do not ask strangers to buy houses for them.
Apart from all the other reasons, you are going to have to engage a lawyer or other professional to do the actual transaction, and that is ...
- 32.4k
48
votes
Stranger sent me $12,100
From a comment
He didn’t send me the money straight to my bank he sent it through quickbooks my payment processing method which takes up to a couple weeks for the money to process idk if the bank is ...
- 2,226
41
votes
Is this guy trying to scam me?
I met a guy online
Scam
Does this really need elaboration?
The simple fact is: What he claims to need from you is something he can readily obtain from any Realtor, so there's no earthly reason ...
38
votes
High conversion fee for failed bank transfer
It isn't a simple reversal, because money actually changed hands when the transfer was made.
When the transfer was made 50,000 Euros was credited to a UK bank, and some number of kronor was debited ...
- 32.4k
36
votes
kids pooling money for Lego League and taxes
Consider for a minute what the implications would be if this were a business or nonprofit. Taxes are collected from net earnings. 5 parents contribute $100 each to an organization, the organization ...
- 48.9k
35
votes
Why don't banks allow more control over credit/debit card charges?
quid has expressed some of the disadvantages with this approach, but there is another. Vendors will not want to give you any goods you buy with your credit card until they are sure they will get the ...
- 32.4k
33
votes
How do you send money when you're not sure it's not a scam?
No one appears to answering the stated question, so:
How do you send money when you're not sure it's not a scam?
Don't
If you aren't 100% sure it isn't a scam, don't send money. If it isn't a scam, ...
- 420
33
votes
Why is my bank unable to track a direct transfer I made to another (fraudulent) account?
If you have a routing number, you can almost always do a Google search and figure out what bank the money went to. Routing numbers are public information. You won't be able to determine who owns the ...
- 25.7k
32
votes
Scam or Real: A woman from Facebook apparently needs my bank account to send money
This is a scam, I'm adding this answer because I was scammed in this fashion.
The scammer sent me a check with which I was to deposit. When the money showed up in my account, I would withdraw the ...
- 443
32
votes
How do you send money when you're not sure it's not a scam?
Unfortunately we live in an age where a large amount of apartments and houses are being rented on sites like airbnb as well, not even inspecting the apartment is foolproof.
Be wary of increasingly ...
- 421
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible