Take the check and the envelope it came in to the post office and have them forward it to the postal inspectors. This is a common scam.
Job Scam:
How can you tell if this job offer is a scam?
1. There is no personal interview, or sometimes no interview at all.
2. It is a work at home position many times because the office in your area is not built, rented, or established yet.
3. You need a bank account to receive and deposit checks, or you need to receive packages and resend them.
4. You need to deposit the check, and send the money through some way such as western union or Greendot money card.
5. The pay and benefits are way beyond anything you would normally earn.
6. All communication is by e mail, text, or instant message.
This is an elaborate scam. I was contacted through Elance.com. I was recruited for a job and hired. They sent me a check to purchase supplies. Luckily I called the originating bank, this is simple to do, and found the check was counterfeit.
The caller was supposedly Theresa Fowler and "she" only texted me.
They interviewed and hired me the same day. I was then asked my address so they could send me a check for software, I received a cashiers check for $2,470 within two days. I first got suspicious after the hiring manager asked me which bank after I told him I was going to deposit it. Then came an endless barrage of questions, where are you, are you done yet, why aren't you doing as instructed. Ii have check deposit on my mobile phone, I must have tried ten times, and kept getting a deposit error. I called the issuing bank and verified the check was a fake.
You are very lucky. For those that do not understand the scam, here's how it works. You get a check. Most people would go to the bank & deposit it. It 2-3 days it appears to clear you bank. You'll be asked to either (a) Use a cash wire transfer service to send cash to someone, or (b) Buy something expensive & mail it to someone. In 4-6 weeks the check bounces. The rest you can guess.
This scammer has been extending his/her range on UpWork.com. I applied for a virtual assistant job that he posted and asked me to contact him outside of the website. Once there, he posed as a hiring manager and proceeded with an "interview". The interview seemed very legitimate and it would make you think that it is real. Once it is done, he said that I am hired and will give me a rate of 30 dollars/hr for the job. He said that he would be sending me a check that should cover some equipment that I will need to buy to set up my home office as well as a sign-on bonus. I received a check the next day, but the company name on the check is different. I checked with the bank which the check was issued from and they said that it was fake check. I severed my communication with the scammer and he kept hounding me when I would deposit the check and that I should let him know when I deposit it.