Scamming a scammer?

Question

I have seen many questions like:

I received $1000 and was asked to send it back. How was this scam meant to work?

Scam or Real: A woman from Facebook apparently needs my bank account to send money

My question is: what happens if you receive this money (without doing anything or giving your bank account number) but do not do anything scammer wants?

I especially want to know about what happens with the money you got and possible legal consequences.

Is it considered yours because scammer transfered it to you?
Do you have to return it? If yes, to whom and in what form?
And finally, how is it that scammers are just sending money to random people? Aren't they scared that someone will simply not return it? I understand that this may be stolen money, but it surely took some effort (cash/time) to "acquire" it, so why are they just sending it away?

Five Bagger · Accepted Answer

The victim never actually receives the money, so that is not an option.

The scammer generates the transaction using a fraudulent check. Once the check is found to be fraudulent the chain of involved banks claw the money back (which is the bank's money, not the scammer's).

So, what happens is the victim sees a deposit in their account, but it is not real, it is a conditional deposit by the bank made on the assumption that the payment is good (which it is not). When the victim endorses a check, they are guaranteeing to the bank that they consider the check good and vouching for the check. That is why the bank credits the victim's account, because the victim has vouched for the check. When the check later turns out to be fraudulent, the victim owes the bank money.

In theory, people who endorse a fraudulent check could be criminally prosecuted, but that does not happen normally.

Pete B. · Answer

Why would you ask "is the money yours", when you know it isn't?

When we were young children we were told "two wrongs don't make a right".

As an adult we know that breaking the law "to get back at" someone we perceive as breaking the law is illegal.  In sports and in real life, the retaliator often receives a worse punishment than the initial rule violator.

In the case mentioned, the second part of the "scam" would proceed if you participated or not.  The person would go to their bank and indicate a mistaken deposit and have such refunded to their account.  By the correct amount yours would be debited.  Woe to the person that spent this money prior to the debit.

NL - Apologize to Monica · Answer

When the wire is cancelled, your bank would pull cash out of your account. If you wired it elsewhere, your bank would cancel that wire and pull the cash from its destination. They only way to keep the money is to physically withdraw it from your account, at which point you're really fighting with your bank, not the scammer.

Your bank will close the account and attempt to collect. If you used fake info to open the account they will do what they can to pursue you for fraud. In the end you are just as guilty as the scammer of breaking laws. The only way to scam a scammer is to lead them on and waste their time so they can't spend that time scamming others. This assumes you don't value your own time and you can keep them from being productive.

Joseph Casey · Answer

Ok, To make this simple. No, Dont return the money. Take a picture of the messenger or email that you and the "Scammer" are communicating with, and use it as evidence. Dont do anything, just take a few pictures of their messages. If they are talking over the phone, then keep them talking and try to milk out more information from them. Your phone records all audio and the scammers phone number (unless the scammer is using a burner phone) in a call and the more information you get them to spit out, the better. When you hang up, immediatly call your local police or sherrifs office by their station number. Dont call 911 as that is only for life threatening emergencies.

Answered by Joseph Casey on June 9, 2021

Scamming a scammer?

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