You applied for a job. You got hired quickly — maybe faster than expected. Then they sent you a cheque and asked you to buy equipment or forward the money somewhere.
Stop. Do not deposit that cheque. It is fake.
This is one of the most financially devastating job scams targeting Americans right now, and it works because the cheque looks completely real and right up until the moment your bank discovers it isn’t.
How This Scam Works
The scammer posts a legitimate looking job offer online on job platforms such as Indeed, LinkedIn, or Facebook. The job is typically remote, requires no experience, and offers generous pay. You apply, and within days you receive an offer.
There is rarely a real interview. Sometimes they replace it with a short text-based “orientation” or paid “training programme.” Everything moves fast, and that speed is intentional — they want you committed before you start asking questions.
Then comes the cheque.
It might be described as:
- A payment to purchase your home office equipment
- An advance on your first paycheck
- A budget to buy supplies from a specific vendor
- A “talent agreement” signing bonus
The cheque arrives, sometimes by post, sometimes as a digital image, and it looks genuine. It has a real bank name, a routing number, a signature. You deposit it, and your bank may even show the funds as available within a day or two.
Then they ask you to send a portion of that money somewhere else. To a vendor. To cover “training costs.” To a company that will ship your equipment. Always with urgency “please complete this today or your position will be given to someone else.”
You send the money. A week later, your bank calls. The cheque was counterfeit. The funds are reversed. The money you sent is gone. And your bank account balance is now negative.
This Is What Happened to a Real Victim
A BBB Scam Tracker report describes exactly this scenario. A person was approached about a video campaign role with what appeared to be a creative agency. They were sent a cheque for $1,700 as part of a “talent agreement.” They deposited it. Shortly after, they were asked to forward funds. When their bank investigated, the cheque was found to be counterfeit and $990.15 was deducted from their account, leaving their balance at zero.
They lost nearly $1,000 they never actually had.
Why Banks Cannot Protect You From This
Many people assume that if their bank shows the funds as available, the cheque must be real. This is the most dangerous misconception about this scam.
Banks are required by law to make deposited funds available within one to two business days but verifying whether a cheque is genuine can take up to two weeks. During that window, the money appears in your account. If you spend or send it, and the cheque later bounces, you personally owe the bank every dollar.
The scammer knows this. The entire scheme is built around that window.
The fraudster’s profit mechanism — step by step
Step 1 — They print a fake cheque that looks real
Modern scammers use high quality printers and templates that replicate genuine bank cheques exactly — correct routing numbers, real bank names, professional formatting. Some even use real routing numbers from legitimate banks, which is why the cheque passes initial inspection.
The cheque costs them almost nothing to produce.
Step 2 — They exploit the banking float window
This is the core of the entire scam. When you deposit a cheque, your bank is legally required to make funds available within 1-2 business days. But actually verifying whether that cheque is genuine takes up to 10-14 business days.
During that gap — the “float window” — the money appears real in your account. The scammer knows this window exists and builds the entire timeline of the scam around it.
Step 3 — They get you to move real money
Here is the critical part most people miss. When you deposit their fake cheque for $1,700 and then send $990 to a “vendor” — you are sending your own real money, or your bank’s real money. The $1,700 was never real. But the $990 you sent absolutely was.
The scammer receives real, untraceable funds — usually via Cash App, Zelle, cryptocurrency, or wire transfer — while you are left holding a bounced cheque.
Step 4 — They disappear before the cheque bounces
By the time your bank discovers the cheque is counterfeit — usually 1-2 weeks later — the scammer has already received the money, closed the fake job posting, and moved on to the next victim. They are typically operating from overseas, making recovery virtually impossible.
Step 5 — You owe the bank, not the scammer
This is what makes it so devastating. When the cheque bounces, your bank reverses the $1,700 deposit. If you spent or sent any of that money, you now owe the bank that amount personally. The scammer faces zero consequences from your bank. Your debt is entirely with your own financial institution.
Why this scam is so profitable for criminals
The economics are brutal. A scammer running this scheme simultaneously on 50 victims, each sending an average of $800, earns $40,000 in a single cycle. The fake cheques cost almost nothing to produce. The job postings are free on most platforms. And because the money moves through Cash App or crypto, it is nearly impossible to trace or recover.
The FBI received tens of thousands of fake cheque complaints in 2025. It remains one of the most consistently profitable scams running because the banking float window is a structural feature of the financial system not a bug that can easily be fixed.
Six Red Flags of a Fake Cheque Job Scam
- You were hired without a real interview — only text messages or email
- The job offer arrived unusually fast after applying
- They sent you a cheque before you did any actual work
- They asked you to send a portion of the money to a third party
- They created urgency — “do this today” or “your position is at risk”
- The company email uses Gmail, Yahoo, or a domain you cannot verify
What To Do If This Happens to You
If you have received a cheque as part of a job offer:
- Do not deposit it under any circumstances
- Search the company name plus the word “scam” on Google and BBB Scam Tracker (bbb.org/scamtracker)
- Call the company directly using a phone number you find independently — not one they gave you
- Report the cheque to the FTC at reportfraud.ftc.gov
- Report the job posting to the platform where you found it (Indeed, LinkedIn, Facebook)
If you have already deposited the cheque and sent money:
- Contact your bank immediately and explain what happened
- File a report with the FTC at reportfraud.ftc.gov
- File a report with the FBI at ic3.gov
- If you sent money via Cash App or another payment app, contact their fraud team immediately — recovery is unlikely but worth attempting
The Rule That Will Always Protect You
No legitimate employer sends you money before you have done any work, and no legitimate employer asks you to forward that money anywhere.
If a cheque arrives as part of a job offer, it is a fake cheque. Every time.
Have you or someone you know received a suspicious job offer? Use our free Scam Checker tool at scamread.com/tools (coming soon) or report it using the form on our Report a Scam page.