I said I couldn’t get to the bank until Monday, although I already was sure this was an attempt at an overpayment scam. Neither name matched the sender of the e-mail, and the amount was more than twice the agreed-upon deposit.Īlmost as soon as the check arrived, the sender asked me via e-mail to deposit it right way, along with something about a longer or additional assignment that I didn’t quite follow - that that seemed far less important than the excessive payment and pressure to use the check immediately. There was no argument, although my radar started pinging when the “client” asked, “What would be your preferred mode of payment? Though I’m proposing a certified bank draft, a cashier’s check or bank certified check.” The pings started going bonkers when FedEx delivered a check the very next day - a Saturday, and at not even 9 a.m.! The supposed sender was a “Jerry Orchid” in Houston, but the check was apparently drawn on an account of a John Wieland in Atlanta, GA, and issued by Vinings Bank in Smyrna, GA. I responded by e-mail to say that I was interested and require a 50% deposit from new clients. It included a list of topics to be included and looked like an easy project to do. In the first message I received, someone using claimed to have a medical condition and to need a 2,550-word article written about general health topics for a presentation at a conference, quoting a rate that fit my usual fee structure - and was a lot more than most writing assignments usually offer these days. ![]() ![]() ![]() It seems to be prevalent and convincing enough to warn our subscribers about it. ![]() A lot of people apparently either have never heard of this type of scam or just aren’t following discussions that warn about the current version. I’ve been warning colleagues about over-payment scams for years - and I recently received one for the first time! I wouldn’t usually take up AAE space with a scam warning, but I’ve been seeing inquiries about this particular one ever since it reached me, in e-mail discussion lists and several Facebook groups.
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