Very suspicious posts about checks received

So, hmm ...  advance fee fraud through fabricated positive buzz. That would explain why some of the "believer" comments are dangling such fat jackpot amounts. ("I scored four grand! I got 7K! Maybe you can too!")

I also gave thought to crooks using spurious checks to create security leaks of account numbers. An old debt collector trick is to mail someone a nominal check for a few dollars on some "reward" pretense. Upon cashing, the agent knows which bank should get the account seizure order. But that's not quite fitting here.

Recall in the TV news segment the letter recipient spotted a mismatched account number sequence. Try this script draft on for size:
- Consumer calls re: BoA refund, answer as "Bank of America Customer Service, get NAME"
- Person confused about wrong acct no? .....
- If YES, say [NAME], apologize for the mixup, make dud keyboard pecks
- Say "[NAME], it looks like you have the wrong check. Your refund is actually much bigger."
- Obtain real acct no., say you are verifying the bigger check .....

Or maybe the "wrong account number" is the given reason why a check won't clear, despite all success story testimonials here, thus prompting collection of a valid one.

Of course, I could be badly overthinking the paranoia and I should make my dinner. I'd much rather hear that there is a SCRA settlement and the system works, however poorly publicized and administrated.

Shsss...be vewy quiet! We hunting wabbits you know.!
If that scammer thought he was just going to hide in his hole & dodge the 00 he thought wrong. I WILL make him another "Ronnie".  
I'm not kidding. I'm serious. I am going to go all out on this one. I don't find it humorous. I'm seriously angry.
Gunnar

End game.
Ms. J. I love you dearly. Even with that adorable accent. Who loves you? Gunnar does.
Alska,
Me

I'm not on my home computer, and I've never been very active here, but I believe you've hit on it being a scam, or an attempt at one.

I wonder if maybe it's an attempt to astroturf. They know people getting calls or letters with strange numbers will do a search for them online. They post bullcrap here and other reverse phone number sites in an attempt to make the number, and the checks sound legit. People call the number and get taken advantage of.

I think that would have...moderate success as a method if and only if the astroturf comments aren't deleted or flagged as being false, if they're combining other methods of getting the scam out (sending letters and fake checks out) or sending spam texts and making tons of calls.

Sad to say targeting military members in scams seems to work too well to stop every kind like this, but this one seems to be easily fixed by making sure their bullcrap is revealed for what it is, a big steamy pile of excrement. There is no doubt in my mind that no matter what the end goal, those posts are not legit.

I must thank you @Resident47 you put into words why scams seem to target service men and women more often than not better than I ever could.

I received the check Monday.

I called 2 numbers that I took off their website (not the number that was on the letter) and neither BOA rep had any idea about it.  The second one suggested that I send a pic of the letter and check to abuse@bankofamerica.com, so I did.

I'll try to remember to update when I get a response from them.

Either way, if you got the check, email a pic of it to abuse@bankofamerica.com and find out for yourself, or take it to the nearest branch (it's over an hour away from me, so I'm not going to drive there).

Now the shills seem to be going after "Dan" who posted his experience with the check.  Downvoting of regulars also - I guess because they don't like the fact we're asking them for facts relating to this.  Can't find anything in the news.

Don't you have to be registered to down vote?  Methinks we have registered shills/scammers lurking about.

Yes, you do need to be registered AND logged in, in order to vote.

The shill has been posting under a lot of different names but hasn't been marked "busted" or "suspect". This indicates to me that he's smart enough to be posting through a proxy so all the posts don't come from the same IP address and give the game away to 800notes admins. Therefore, he's probably smart enough to figure out how to register (possibly under several different names) and vote. So, no surprises here.

True - but they eventually  slip up somehow.  It is just a matter of time!!!

I'd like to plop something in here. I'm sure it will fall between troll posts. Oh well, trolls need to be heard too.....
I had an expensive lunch today. The lovely woman had a fondness for Scallops. I had my usual hankerin' for a glass of good wine. Or two. With a rare sirloin. Anyway, this whole routine is done. The BoA  ran in to some problems. That wasn't unknown. The issue is being dealt with. It is NOT being dealt with by people receiving mysterious checks in the mail. At all. From what she was able to ascertain, these mystery checks don't exist. She can't even find bogus ones.
We're dealing with a scammer that thinks he's smart. He's put a lot of time & effort in to his game. He's determined. I have to admit, this one is better than most. You all know what that means.
Alska,
Gunnar

He's determined. But determined to do what? We still don't know what the scam is.

That puzzles me too SB. I'm sure we'll find out soon. Unless the crawler has already figured out that it's best to bail. I hope that's not the case. This one has all the earmarks of being domestic. You know how I am....
Alska,
Gunnar

There is the news report from the Pensacola TV station with an actual letter and attached check displayed during the report so something is out there.  The reporter stated a BoA spokesperson agreed with the Airman who received the check that it was bogus and that BoA would not send out letters like the one with the check attached. Curiouser and curiouser.

Gunnar, thanks for the info.  It sounds like you enjoyed your lunch.

Like Sir Bedevere, I am scratching my head about how this scam is supposed to work.  It may be some sort of Social Engineering scam to gather info from victims through that phone number.  Right now, the only reports of what happens when the phone number is answered is coming from posters suspected of being shills.
They may be trying to gather account information from the deposited checks, but they could not gather any account information from people if the checks are bogus, as the checks would never get back to them, and setting up an actual account would lend to the scammers being easily caught when scores of insufficient fund checks start to pound their account.  At least this would be the case for banks in the USA or Canada.  Now, it is possible that they are working somewhere outside the USA/Canada where banks might be less rigorous and that possibility could be supported by the mention in at least one post that the checks routing number does not have 9 digits.  No mention of just how many digits were in the routing number on the check, so we can’t narrow down where they are working out of, but since they are manning up a working 866 number, they would have to be in the scope of the NANP, so I would guess one of those Caribbean countries well known for scams.  If this is the case, they may be after account information of the victim.  Many people still endorse with directions such as “For Deposit Only - Acct. # XXXXXXXX”, and even if the account is not listed identification of the bank the check was deposited at would be on the check.  If they are not just after “low hanging fruit”, there could be a second phase to try to get more information.

Of course, I am only doing a bit of brainstorming.  Whatever their scam, 800notes seems to have put a real burr under their saddle.  It has been fairly entertaining reading the number thread over the past couple evenings.