Yes, treat it as a scam: a "sugar daddy" who sends you a check or mobile deposit and then asks you to forward part of it, buy gift cards with it, or pay a fee out of it is running a fake check scam, and you will likely owe your bank the full amount when the check bounces.

This is one of the oldest money scripts aimed at sugar babies, and it works because the money really does show up in your account for a while. The fact that you can see the funds proves nothing about whether the check is good.

The short answer

Do not send anything back. In its consumer guidance on fake checks, the US Federal Trade Commission explains that "by law, banks have to make deposited funds available quickly," but that "fake checks can take weeks to be discovered and untangled. By that time, the scammer has any money you sent, and you're stuck paying the money back to the bank." It also warns that fake checks "generally look just like real checks, even to bank employees." (FTC)

A real benefactor who wants to give you money has no reason to route part of it back to himself, to a "friend", or onto gift cards. Any instruction to move money onward is the scam.

How the scam works

The Better Business Bureau published a scam alert in January 2025 describing exactly this pattern on dating and social media apps. (BBB) Step by step, it usually goes like this:

  1. The offer. Someone messages you offering to be your sugar daddy (or sugar momma) and promises a weekly or monthly allowance, often before you have met or even video-called.
  2. The "first payment". They send a check, ask you to mobile-deposit a check image, or claim to have made a transfer. The amount is often larger than the allowance they promised.
  3. The catch. They tell you to keep your share and send the rest somewhere else: to an "assistant", to a friend, to buy gift cards, or to cover a "fee". The FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) calls this an overpayment scheme, where a person "is sent a payment/commission and is instructed to keep a portion of the payment and send the remainder to another individual or business." (IC3 2025 report)
  4. The bounce. Days or weeks later the bank discovers the check is fake and reverses the deposit. The money you sent onward was real money, and it is gone. You are left with a negative balance.

In 2025 the IC3 recorded 2,194 overpayment complaints with reported losses of $22,898,075, and 23,159 confidence/romance fraud complaints with losses of $929,287,469. (IC3 2025 report) The FTC received 3 million fraud reports in 2025 with $15.9 billion in reported losses. (FTC, March 2026)

Red flags

  • He wants to pay you before you have met or had a live video call.
  • The payment is a check or check image, not a transfer you can see clear in your own banking app.
  • He "overpays" and asks for the difference back, or asks you to pass money to someone else.
  • He asks you to buy gift cards, crypto, or send money through a payment app with the deposited funds.
  • He pushes urgency: do it today, before the bank "holds" it, before he "loses access".
  • He asks for your online banking login so he can "deposit directly". That is a separate account-takeover scam: no one who wants to give you money needs your password or one-time codes.
  • The profile cannot be confirmed as a real person. See how to verify a sugar daddy is real.

What to do now

  1. Stop and do not send any money, gift card codes or crypto, even if the deposit still shows as available.
  2. Call your bank using the number on your card or in your banking app, not a number he gives you. Tell them you deposited a check you now believe is fake, and ask them to check it before you touch the funds.
  3. If you already sent money, tell your bank or payment app right away and ask whether the transfer can be stopped or reversed. If you bought gift cards, contact the card company with the card and receipt. (FTC)
  4. Report it. In the US, report to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov and to the FBI at ic3.gov. The FTC also points people to the US Postal Inspection Service at uspis.gov/report for fake checks. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, Action Fraud has been replaced by Report Fraud at reportfraud.police.uk (0300 123 2040); in Scotland, call Police Scotland on 101.
  5. Report the profile on the dating site or app where you met. The FTC recommends notifying the platform as well. (FTC)
  6. Keep the evidence: screenshots of the profile and chats, the check image, deposit receipts and any transfer confirmations.
  7. Check the account he moved you to. If he pushed the conversation to X (Twitter), paste the profile into our Account Radar to see whether it appears in the SDI database before you trust anything it says.

You did nothing shameful by depositing a check that looked real. The scam is built to fool people, and reporting it quickly gives you the best chance of limiting the damage.

FAQ

The money is showing as available. Doesn't that mean the check cleared?

No. Banks have to make funds available quickly, but discovering a fake check can take weeks. Seeing the money in your balance does not mean the check is good. (FTC)

Who pays if the check bounces?

Usually you do. The FTC says that once the fake check is discovered, "you're stuck paying the money back to the bank." Anything you sent onward is lost on top of that.

What if I just keep the money and don't send anything back?

The deposit will still be reversed when the check fails, so there is no money to keep. Tell your bank now so they can flag the item, and stop contact with the sender.

Can a real sugar daddy ever send money before meeting?

Some people do send gifts early, but a legitimate gift never comes with instructions to send part of it back or onward. The FTC's general rule for online relationships is "never send money or gifts to a sweetheart you haven't met in person," and the same caution applies in reverse to money that comes with strings attached. For more patterns, read our sugar dating scams guide and how to spot a fake sugar daddy. If he asked you to pay a fee instead, see sugar daddy asks for a fee or gift card.

Sources

Sources checked October 6, 2026.