Counterfeit (MoneyGram) Travelers Express Money Orders

I'm surprised I haven't seen many reports in the media on counterfeit Travelers Express Money Orders. They seem to be frequently appearing in advance fee scams, particularly on auctions, such as E-Bay. Please note that these scams don't only happen on auction sites, they can occur on dating sites, within chatrooms and arrive via spam e-mails etc. etc.

I was even recently contacted by a reader where the (advance fee scam) attempt was made with a Qchex, (checks you can have e-mailed to you) as payment for a rental. Of course, the reader was then solicited to wire the excess $4,500.00 to someone, who was supposed to arrange furnishings. Upon verification, the check turned out to be counterfeit and our reader avoided becoming a victim of this scam.

Here is my most recent post on Qchex: Addressing QChex Fraud.

The counterfeit items reported to me are being made in the $1,000.00 to $1,500.00 range. They are being passed either for high value merchandise, or given as overpayments on the asking price of the merchandise. The seller is then being duped into wiring the money, normally overseas.

Some of the items reported to me also had Walmart and Ace Check Cashing logos on them.

Recently, there have been a lot of counterfeited U.S. and Canadian Postal Money Orders used in internet scams. Here is a post, I did on them: More on Postal Money Order Scam.

According to the U.S. Postal Service, they were being produced in Nigeria and Eastern Europe.

The items being passed seem to mutate. For some time, they were counterfeit cashier (official) checks, then came the official government money orders and now it seems, money orders in general. The thing to be aware of is the behavior, which is a come-on (normally over the internet) to cash the items for a percentage, or to negotiate them over the amount of something you are trying to sell and wire the excess money. Once in awhile they are to free some beautiful model from Eastern Europe, or Nigeria, who is facing oppression in her homeland.

For information on how to determine if a Travelers Express Money Order is good, click on the title of this post.