'Fake check' scams seem to have taken off in a big way recently, and I see more and more new players in the game each day. They're also ramping up the volume. One scammer — identifiable by addresses at yahoo.co.uk that are all of the form <somename>.eauction, e.g. Geoffrey.eauction, Humberto.eauction etc — has sent me forty messages in the past week, including multiple messages to the same address. Another, calling himself either Euroimperial or Flowerland International, has sent thirty in the last fortnight.

That may not seem much when compared with all the Nigerians eager to share their wealth with me, or the Dutch lotteries announcing astonishing windfalls, but it adds up. Moreover, it seems to be quite a successful scam: I've already heard from one man who has probably just lost about $5000 to a fake-check scammer in Canada. The clever part is that it seems to the victim that he's really getting something. Unlike a 419 or a prize pitch scam, where the victims only have the promise of imaginary riches to persuade them to come across with the 'advance fee', the mark in a fake check scam actually gets to see the money in his bank account before he gives the scammer a penny.

The bad news is that, like 419, this one doesn't look likely to go away any time soon.