If you sell anything over the Internet, please beware of a recent spat of very authentic looking fake money orders. These counterfeit USPS Money Orders appear to be VERY authentic. But it is very easy to spot a fake if you know what to look for.

How to tell if it’s official -

Hold the money order up to the light and look for the following security features:

Ben Franklin images (watermarks) repeated on the left side (top to bottom).
A dark security thread running (top to bottom) to the right of the Franklin watermark, with the tiny letters “USPS” facing backward and forward.

If either of these security features is not present when the money order is held up to the light, you are holding a fraudulent Postal Money Order.

Also be aware that -
Denominations are indicated on two locations.
Discoloration of the denomination amounts indicates erasure (fraudulent).
Maximum value for domestic postal money orders is $1,000
Maximum value for international postal money orders is $700.

More information can be found at this official web site: US Postal Inspection Service

Millions of dollars are being lost each year to these fraud schemes. Don’t be the next victim! (1)

Here is some more information about email fraud.

Be very cautious when dealing with any customers who want to pay with money orders or cashiers checks, especially foreign customers. Most of these fraud schemes originate in Nigeria, but also have been known to come from in Ghana and Eastern Europe and most anywhere else. We have seen similar fraud schemes that appear to be from Canada. Beware of the following telltale signs of fraud:

• Beware of anyone who seeks to take you into their confidence due to any sad story and/or unclaimed fortune.
• Beware of foreign interests seeking “business partners” in the US.
• Beware of anyone who wants to pay by money order or cashiers check.
• Beware of anyone who wants to pay more than the the asking price for any item.
• Beware of anyone who asks you to buy something for them and send it to them.
• Beware of anyone who says they will arrange for shipping.
• Beware of any such email contacts from Nigeria, Ghana of Eastern Europe.

We strongly suggest that you ignore any such emails and never engage in any transactions that have these characteristics. And in any event, do not ever ship any item until payment is verified to be authentic.

Just because your bank accepts the money order of cashiers check, that is absolutely no guarantee that it is authentic. If it proves to be a fake, the bank will charge your account.

If you feel that you may have a legitimate customer, you can weed out most of these fraud schemes simply by doing the following:

1. Require payment by bank wire transfer.
2. Specify that no items will be shipped until payment is verified.
3. You will probably never hear from them again. And that is a good thing.

But please be aware that responding to these fraudulent solicitations in any way will probably put your email address on tons of SPAM lists.

(1) For more information about fake money orders, check out this article in the New York Times

Posted on Tuesday, April 26th, 2005 at 12:09 pm and filed under All Posts, Email Security. You can follow any responses to this post through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or you may trackback from your own site.