Despite all our warnings, even people who think they know better are being taken in by counterfeit check scams. Here's a heads up for the top 10 ways scammers can track you down.

In virtually every case, counterfeit check scammers find you by pretending to be something you're interested in.

1. Phony sweepstakes, lotteries and prize drawings compel you to fill out entry forms.
2. Fraudulent telemarketers coax you out of information to build mailing lists.
3. Scammers respond to your classified ads, pretending to be buyers.
4. Online -- they get you to respond to bogus surveys.
5. They create fake profiles and pretend to be your soul mate on dating sites.
6. And pretend to be your friend on social networking sites.
7. Looking for a free government grant? Scammers are poised to pounce.
8.They're hiding behind bogus job offers.
9. Fake appeals for your charity donations.
10. And counterfeit check scammers are hiding behind dozens of work at home schemes.

According to the Consumer Federation of America, one in three American adults has received a counterfeit check, and of those, 2 percent actually deposit the checks and send money to the scammers.

"That's about the same response that a legitimate direct marketer would get," said CFA's Susan Grant. "And that means that at least 1 pint 3 million people in the United States have been victims."

So regardless of what anyone tells you, if you get a cashiers check in the mail from someone you've never seen and do not know who wants you to wire part of the money back to them, shred the check or simply throw it away. As with any NSF check, if you deposit a counterfeit cashiers check and take out money- your bank will come after you when the check bounces.

Right now, a KOMO viewer in Renton who got caught up in a slick phony job scam is being pressured to repay his bank. The bank lost $250,000 in the scam, and bank fraud investigators just offered to settle with the victim for $75,000. The victim says there's no way he can come up with that kind of money and blames the branch manager for telling him the check had cleared.

A warning from the CFA: just because the banks says a check has cleared does not mean the check is good.

So spread the word to your friends and family, especially senior citizens who are major targets and who often truly believe the checks are legit.

"When they say the check has cleared, really what they mean is you can have access to the money," Grant said. "Federal law gives you the right to have access to your money within one to five business days, depending on the kind of check or money order. So you can get the money very quickly, but the check or money order is still going through the system. And it could take weeks for it to come back as counterfeit."

For more information:

Giving the Bounce to Counterfeit Check Scams