Scamwatch names two warning signs that point straight at sellers: a buyer happy to buy an expensive item without seeing it in person, and a buyer who sends more than the agreed price and asks for the difference back. Queensland Police describe a third, the cheque that seems to clear and is later dishonoured, which leaves the seller with the loss.
General information, not financial or legal advice. For a problem with a payment, your own bank or card provider is the first contact; scams can be reported to Scamwatch, and Queensland Police direct online fraud reports to the Australian Cyber Security Centre’s reporting page.
3.1A cheque is a promise, not money
The Queensland Police Service’s page on cheque fraud is written with businesses in mind, and its warnings about clearance and overpayment are the ones that touch a private seller. Its central warning is about timing. A cheque from someone overseas has to clear through your local bank and the overseas bank before the money is really confirmed, which can take up to six weeks. If your bank lets you use the funds in the meantime and the overseas bank then rejects the cheque as fake or stolen, your bank takes the money back out of your account.
Looks are no guide either. Police point out that a cheque can look official and still be false, because fakes are easy to make, and that a cheque from an unfamiliar foreign bank may have a layout you have never seen. If one bounces, the person who accepted it carries the loss.
The same page lists what to check on any cheque you receive. In short:
- the date is correct and nothing on the face has been altered
- the amount in figures matches the amount in words
- it is signed, and a cheque made out to someone else has been properly endorsed
- for a foreign bank, its legitimacy is confirmed with that bank directly or through your own financial institution.
Police also suggest banking cheques promptly and note that you can ask your bank for special clearance.
3.2The overpayment
Scamwatch lists a buyer who pays more than the agreed price and asks for the extra to be refunded among its warning signs. Queensland Police describe how it plays out with a cheque: the payment is well over the price, the buyer asks for the balance to be sent on through a money transfer service, the seller releases the goods and sends the balance, and then the cheque is dishonoured.
Worked example · the figures are invented; the pattern is the one police describe
- Agreed price
- $9,500
- Cheque received
- $12,000, with a request to send the extra on for “the transport company”
- Sent onward
- $12,000 − $9,500 = $2,500
- Weeks later
- the cheque is dishonoured and $12,000 leaves the account
- Seller’s loss
- the car, plus the $2,500 sent onward
The seller never had the $12,000: the bank had made it available before the cheque was confirmed.
3.3Bank transfers, PayID and the name check
A PayID is a piece of information, such as a mobile number or an email address, linked to a bank account so people can pay it through online banking; the person paying sees the name linked to the PayID before the money is sent. For a seller, that means a buyer paying your PayID can see your name, and you can tell the buyer what name to expect.
Payments to a BSB and account number have a check of their own, being rolled out in online banking. Confirmation of Payee compares the account name, BSB and account number the payer enters with the receiving bank’s records and shows a match, a close match or no match. If you are the one being paid into a personal account, the payer only sees your account name when the name they typed matches or closely matches it.
Messages are where sellers get caught. PayID’s own website warns that any email or text claiming to come from PayID is a scam, because PayID does not contact people, and that it never asks anyone to pay money before they can be paid or to “upgrade” an account. A message saying a buyer’s payment is waiting and will be released once you pay a fee fits that description exactly. Confirmation of Payee, likewise, never contacts people or asks them to send money.
3.4The paperwork is part of the payment
Payment and paperwork meet on the day of sale. When a seller transfers a car online, TMR asks for the date of sale, the dutiable value and the odometer reading at the time of sale. Duty is worked out on the higher of the total sale price and the car’s market value. On paper, the seller completes Part B of the transfer form on the day of sale and the buyer signs it, and TMR recommends keeping that part until the registration is out of your name.
The order matters because the car stays yours on TMR’s records until the transfer is finalised, and you may be held accountable for offences the buyer commits in the meantime. The transfer guide sets out each step.
3.5If it goes wrong
- Straight awayContact your bank or card provider, report the scam and ask it to stop any transactions; Scamwatch also says to change the passwords on your devices and online accounts.
- ThenIDCARE, the national identity and cyber support service for Australia and New Zealand, can help you make a plan at no cost to limit the damage.
- Report itReport the scam to Scamwatch, which uses reports to try to stop scams and warn others. Queensland Police direct reports of online shopping fraud to the Australian Cyber Security Centre.
If your identity details may have been exposed along the way, police point to IDCARE as well.