Can you believe that I was targeted by another freelance writer scam? That's two this month! What is wrong with these people?
I was asked to edit the text of an article for a guy named Jason Dickson. (His email is jj_dickins@att.net, just in case you get targeted by him.
Nothing unusual there. The text was particularly horrible, so I charged more. The guy said that he'd mail me a check.
This was my first mistake. Writer's don't ever accept checks as payment if it's from someone you've never heard of and that is an individual. Checks from big companies are fine.
Next, the guy said that his partner cut the check for $4000 instead of the price I quoted him. He asked if I would wire the extra money back to him? Umm, sound fishy yet?
I just repeated told the guy that I hadn't received the check and never agreed to wire him the money. I figured there was no check and he was telling me all this in hopes that I would do the editing for free. I wasn't about to do any work until I received payment, so I wasn't worried. Writers, don't ever start work until you receive some type of payment upfront. I've been burned too many times not to follow that rule.
So, after over a month, the check arrives. It isn't for $4000. It's for $2850. He also told me that the check was sent out weeks ago, but UPS and the date on the check says that it was mailed one day before I received the check. Jason Dickson emails me and tells me that he wants me to wire the money to:
NAME.............. Nicholas Folk
ADDRESS........107 S MAIN ST,
CITY................... Brooklyn
STATE................New York
ZIP CODE....... 11213
Huh? The guy's name is Jason Dickson, but he wants me to wire money to Nicholas Folk?
I went down to my local bank and talked to them about the situation. They said that this is a common scam. The scam artists create a check that has a routing number from one bank and an account number from another. This confuses the bank's machines and, as the check bounces around in the system, the writer wires money back to the scam artist. The scam artist gets money, the writer's account is in the hole once the check bounces and the writer has no recourse but to pay back the bank. Also, some banks will close the bank account of a victim of fraud, even if they pay off the fees and over-drafted account!
Thankfully, I didn't wire the guy any money, but I want to make sure that no one else falls for this scheme. Pass this post along on Twitter and Facebook to all of your writing friends and maybe we can stop scams against writers!