The Accidentally Overpaid Excuse

What we have dubbed the `accidentally overpaid excuse` refers to a common techniques used by check cashing fraudsters to steal money from online victims

It refers to the method as to where a scammer pays a victim with a fake check but purposely makes out the check out for too much money, claiming it was a mistake. Upon realising their `mistake` the scammer contacts the victim and requests they wire the amount overpaid back to the scammer using an online wire money service like Western Union or Moneygram. When the check bounces, the victim is left without the money they wired back to the scammer.

This techniques is most commonly used on sites that let users sell items like CraigsList, where the scammer contacts the seller and sends them a check for too much and requests the remainder back. However scammers also use this method with other types of check cashing scams like fake job offers, particularly the au pair job scam.

A variant of this techniques is where a scammer will make out the check for too much but claim the extra amount is for somebody else and requests the victim to forward the money on for them, again through Western Union or MoneyGram. In reality, the money is still be forwarded straight back to the scammer.

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