The Fake money order scams are a variation on the old Bank Auditor Con seen in some of those all time movies.
The scam has now gone high tech using the internet and the global economy.
It takes on many variations but you can protect yourself if you know what to watch for.
It is a common misconception that just because your bank makes the funds become available to you from a check that the check is good.
In actuality just because your bank makes the funds available to you does not mean the bank has actually received the funds from the other party's bank.
You are actually liable for any check you deposit into your account.
The check scam artist's take advantage of this misconception by asking you to send them funds in the form of a money order as soon as your bank makes these funds available to you.
One popular scam is to send you a fake money order for more then they owe you and then they ask you to send them a money order for the difference.
This is popular if you are selling something online like an E-Bay auction.
They will make up some story why they accidentally overpaid you and instruct you to just send them a check or money order for the difference.
Another popular scam is to offer you a Work from home job doing data entry or help desk work from the internet and then overpaying you in the form of a fake money order and asking you to refund the difference.
Never send anyone money until you have verified with your bank that their check has actually cleared and was good.
When you are selling goods and services never ship the goods until the check has cleared.
If they send you a check for a wrong amount return the check and request a new one for the proper amount.