Money Orders - Bank on this.

[the.golden.ax]

I got a money order payment for goods. The bank backed it out as a fake. Not sure why they thought it was a fake. This specific issue has never happened to me. Have had thousands of M/O payments over the years. A word to the wise. If you get a money order in light of this, sadly I'd have to suggest, you should to treat it like a check. Luckily, I've lost nothing unless the bank charges me a returned item fee. The items weren't sent yet. I'm not outing anyone unless there are facts. For all I know the bank made a mistake. Perhaps the location selling the money order lost their right to do so, and did anyway. I'm going to have to wait until Tuesday to start asking the questions because everyone involved is closed for the long weekend. The ONLY reason for this post is to let AAers know, if you are expecting a M/O or just got one, maybe do a little extra waiting and checking before sending off the products. Will update when I have more facts.

 

AX

[AtariLeaf]

I've used Canada Post International money orders many times without incident. The only time I ever had a seller say they couldn't cash it was when I bought some Atari games a couple of years ago from Trade-N-Games. He said his bank wouldn't honor it for some reason. I don't know why and I don't think the seller knew why. It wasn't fake, I got it directly from the post office and as I said, I've never had problems before this or since this with money orders. Very strange.

[+wood_jl]

Was this a U.S. Postal Money Order? That's the only kind I've ever used. They look pretty difficult to fake. What kind of money order was it?

[the.golden.ax]

Western Union. There is a plot thickener, but I'm apprehensive to post it until Tuesday because I want to be sure before I do. I'll just say in light of two more facts this is looking more and more like it wasn't legitimate. I'd really hate to write off all new users to AA, but this certainly isn't helping. I've now had paypal and money order issues with new users. Being new isn't a crime, but when there is a problem statistically, over and over, it unfortunately ruins it for others.

 

AX

[Trade-N-Games]

I've used Canada Post International money orders many times without incident. The only time I ever had a seller say they couldn't cash it was when I bought some Atari games a couple of years ago from Trade-N-Games. He said his bank wouldn't honor it for some reason. I don't know why and I don't think the seller knew why. It wasn't fake, I got it directly from the post office and as I said, I've never had problems before this or since this with money orders. Very strange.

I remember that. My local bank just did not want to deal with international MO they said fees were involved and 2 weeks or more to clear. I would stick with only postal money orders for my business.

[+save2600]

Throughout the years, I've heard how easy it is to fake a Western Union M.O. and because of this, lots of places today, including online sites and individuals simply refuse to take anything less than a certified check from a bank or a postal money order. Wester Union M.O.'s have been bad news for a quite a while now. It's too bad because the K-Mart here in town in the absolute cheapest to pick one up. $.59, but doesn't do you any good when so many places refuse them now

[jetset]

Chances are if the bank said it was fake, it's a fake. They either have MICR readers and scanned the item to read the magnetically encoded ink at the bottom, and/or ran it through the fed. It's possible it was placed on stop payment and the bank either chose their words poorly or was trying to not make you feel duped, but chances are no in favor of that.

[the.golden.ax]

Third issue has come to light that doesn't add up. Man I just need to leave it alone to Tuesday until everything is confirmed. I want to think the best.

 

AX

[atarigal]

Yeah, you should only accept USPS money orders. You can cash them right at the PO.

[toptenmaterial]

Extremely disturbing. Hopefully they will treat this the same as a counterfeit bill which would build a fraud case against the buyer- unlike someone who accidently passes a fake bill, I'm sure your buyer was culpable. This sucks; I frequently use Western Union money orders paying my AA sellers, I guess in the future I will be sticking to Postal orders. My heart goes out to you as a know that you have had several recent run-ins with low life nickel and dime scammers. If you do not mind me asking, what was the third issue that you said came to light?

Edited May 28, 2011 by toptenmaterial

[fmdof]

too many people saying you should do this, and you should do that. Who really cares. You're out nothing. You can accept what ever you want, cause you still have your games. I always cash them before i send anything out, and I don't know why everyone else wouldn't.

[+wood_jl]

too many people saying you should do this, and you should do that. Who really cares. You're out nothing. You can accept what ever you want, cause you still have your games. I always cash them before i send anything out, and I don't know why everyone else wouldn't.

Who really cares? I'd say anybody who doesn't want to either be ripped off themselves with a fake money order, or anybody who might have considered using a Western Union money order (legitimately) to pay for their purchases. I'd guess that a whole lot of people care. I'm glad for the head-up, myself.

[+batari]

I've used Canada Post International money orders many times without incident. The only time I ever had a seller say they couldn't cash it was when I bought some Atari games a couple of years ago from Trade-N-Games. He said his bank wouldn't honor it for some reason. I don't know why and I don't think the seller knew why. It wasn't fake, I got it directly from the post office and as I said, I've never had problems before this or since this with money orders. Very strange.

I remember that. My local bank just did not want to deal with international MO they said fees were involved and 2 weeks or more to clear. I would stick with only postal money orders for my business.

I took a MO from Canada a while ago and the bank held the funds for three weeks and charged a hefty fee once it did clear. I won't be doing that again.

[+save2600]

I took a MO from Canada a while ago and the bank held the funds for three weeks and charged a hefty fee once it did clear. I won't be doing that again.

When purchasing something from the States, Canadians should be sending money orders made out in U.S. funds. What was with delay and hefty fee? They send it in their own currency and you were dinged on the exchange rate and fee for conversion?

[AtariLeaf]

I took a MO from Canada a while ago and the bank held the funds for three weeks and charged a hefty fee once it did clear. I won't be doing that again.

When purchasing something from the States, Canadians should be sending money orders made out in U.S. funds. What was with delay and hefty fee? They send it in their own currency and you were dinged on the exchange rate and fee for conversion?

 

I haven't used MO's in a while but I've never heard of that or had a seller tell me that happened to them. Maybe it was a Canadian bank Money order but I always use the postal ones and make it out in US curreny - they're a green international money order that, I'm told by Canada Post, is accepted at ANY US bank. Some banks are not playing nice if they aren't accepting them or charging fees. I pay $5 for one of those. The seller shouldn't have to pay a damn thing on their end.

[+thanatos]

Just got a rather large USPS money order recently, and those are definitely the way to go. No way someone could fake that unless they own a gigantic government printing press.

[the.golden.ax]

Just got a rather large USPS money order recently, and those are definitely the way to go. No way someone could fake that unless they own a gigantic government printing press.

 

Sadly a google search shows that people actually do. The reason for the post and warning was to educate others. A heads up if you will, just in case they find themselves in a similar situation. Until this is cleared up I'd hate to see anyone else go through the same issue. Prior to this I'd have never held off shipping because it was a money order = cash.

 

AX

[CPUWIZ]

Sadly a google search shows that people actually do.

 

LOL

[kheffington]

Postal money orders are definitely the only safe ones to accept. They have lots of security in the printing just like currency does. You can easily cash the US postal orders at the Post office. Canadian Postal money orders are good too as long as they are International money orders in US dollars.

[Rev]

These days, i would only accept paypal or a postal money order as others have said. if the post office dont cash it then you know the person that sent it was a crook.

 

 

ax, just curious, how much was the MO for anyway? just a rough idea.....20 bucks? 50? 100?

 

 

 

[jetset]

Postal money orders can easily be counterfeited. Just like our currency can and often is. Paypal, with all its faults is the safest way to go.

[+thanatos]

Just got a rather large USPS money order recently, and those are definitely the way to go. No way someone could fake that unless they own a gigantic government printing press.

 

Sadly a google search shows that people actually do. The reason for the post and warning was to educate others. A heads up if you will, just in case they find themselves in a similar situation. Until this is cleared up I'd hate to see anyone else go through the same issue. Prior to this I'd have never held off shipping because it was a money order = cash.

 

AX

 

I was thinking in the way of actually looking at it, the watermark, strip, etc. It would be pretty impressive to get those done. Just like a photocopied $20 bill. Someone might pass one to someone else, but they didn't hold it up to a light. Unless the fake one you got was actually that good!

Edited May 29, 2011 by thanatos

[Buyatari]

Postal money orders can easily be counterfeited. Just like our currency can and often is. Paypal, with all its faults is the safest way to go.

 

Just wait 90 days on credit card payments before shipping and you are good to go.

[Buyatari]

Just got a rather large USPS money order recently, and those are definitely the way to go. No way someone could fake that unless they own a gigantic government printing press.

 

Sadly a google search shows that people actually do. The reason for the post and warning was to educate others. A heads up if you will, just in case they find themselves in a similar situation. Until this is cleared up I'd hate to see anyone else go through the same issue. Prior to this I'd have never held off shipping because it was a money order = cash.

 

AX

 

I was thinking in the way of actually looking at it, the watermark, strip, etc. It would be pretty impressive to get those done. Just like a photocopied $20 bill. Someone might pass one to someone else, but they didn't hold it up to a light. Unless the fake one you got was actually that good!

 

Around here they are stripping small bills like $5s and reprinting them with higher faces.

 

Paper is good to the pen test, has a watermark (just with the wrong dead guy) has a strip (just with the wrong strip).

[the.golden.ax]

These days, i would only accept paypal or a postal money order as others have said. if the post office dont cash it then you know the person that sent it was a crook.

 

 

ax, just curious, how much was the MO for anyway? just a rough idea.....20 bucks? 50? 100?

 

 

$50.

 

AX