My "employer" sent a cheque. I deposited it—and the wire was gone when it bounced.

Six months of applications ended in a remote job offer with quick interviews and upbeat “HR” email, and when the cheque arrived in the post I told my partner we were finally moving forward even though the letter’s wording felt stiff.

They called it an advance for equipment: deposit the cheque, keep a small amount, wire the rest to their “vendor” for laptops. The balance showed in my banking app for several days, so I assumed things were clearing and sent the wire, then waited for onboarding that never landed on the day they promised.

About a week later the bank flagged a bounced cheque; the wire was already thousands of pounds in a foreign account, the employer inbox bounced, and one call explained that the deposit had been provisional until the paper cleared—which it never did.

Between receiving the cheque and sending the wire I had filed every odd delay under “new job chaos” because I was relieved to be hired and worried that asking too many questions would make them pull the offer.

The fraud desk traced the routing number to a personal account abroad and said three other customers that month had used the same “vendor payment” story, which was when I stopped hoping for a payroll error and started the dispute paperwork.

I owed the bank the wired amount while the dispute ran, and for months every job listing triggered the same checklist—same script, different company name—before I could read the salary line calmly.

No legitimate employer mails a cheque and asks you to wire part of it back or buy gift cards for kit. One call to a number I looked up myself would have cost an afternoon, not my savings.

• Never deposit an employer cheque and then wire or gift-card “change” back—it is a known scam pattern.
• Report to your bank’s fraud team and to consumer protection (e.g. FTC in the US).

For more help, see our Report a scam page and Spot and avoid scams guide.