Counterfeit Cashier's Check - SCAM alert

I've seen this in action. They tried to get me with this one when I was selling my car.

Be careful out there people. :?

 

Yeah I got contacted outside of Ebay with a scam similar to this when I sold my RE5. Just stay away from anything that sounds fishy and you'll be fine.

 

There is also another scam, We were selling our 4x4 online, I never received a call from the buyer. All I got was a letter in the mail, with a check for the amount and extra money that was supposed to cover delivery. The letter stated their intentions and asked me to contact the shipping company. I called the "shipping company" and it turned out to be some tow truck company in the Carolinas. I began to get a bad feeling about the whole deal. So I then contacted the bank from where the check was written on, and the check had no phone number on it. (thank the Lord for the internet) I tracked down the bank, and found it to be written on a bank that was located in a hospital. I called the "bank" in the hospital and they began to investigate, I faxed them a copy of the check and "Someone in the accounting department" was trying to buy my truck using hospital funds that was never authorizied. Long story short, always call the issuing bank first before you do anything else when it comes to selling.

RJ

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Yamaha XJ650

 

Also be careful about US Postal Service money orders. There are some very good fakes out there. Take it down to the post office and have them verify that it is the real thing.

My suggestion would be to make delivery of the goods contingent on the check/money order actually clearing everybody's banks, or to do business face-to-face on a cash basis.

Regards,
Annie

 

As for the postal service money-order thing, I work for a bank, those can't be verified until they're over 48 hours old. Some weird bug in their system. Same with the ones people get at village pantry, walmart, etc.

Contacting the supposed issuing bank is a good way to go. I've encountered a few banks that refuse to verify anything, including their "official" items (cashier's checks, money orders, etc), and my advice has always been to just not deal with those people if that's the case.

 

This scam is real and is on Craigslist too. I had a guy tell me that he was overseas. The item I was selling was $700, and he sent me $2800 in Albertson's cashiers checks. They looked valid. I was already suspecting fraud, so I sent him an email that I was going to cash the checks and sit on them for 3 weeks until I found out for sure, that they were not fraudulent.

He hasn't emailed me back. I'm keeping the checks around as keepsakes. Talked to a local police officer friend, and he said there probably would not be anyone interested in taking the case.

Beware, be smart, and take cash or paypal only.

 

I had a lady today with the same scenario richt, she was selling something for $400 on craigslist, and got a check in the mail from someone several states away for like $2500.

My general rule of thumb when it comes to money, "If it seems too good to be true, it is!"

 

a friend of mine sold his 2009 Camaro on craigslist for exactly what he was asking for - $35k or something like that. The guy gave him a cashiers check from a recognizable bank and drove away. 10 days later my friend got a call from his bank Obviously he was sick and felt incredibly stupid. This story however, has an unbelievable happy ending, the police called him and based on the VIN number tracked him down, they found his car along with several other stolen cars that were "cooling off" in a parking lot somewhere so he got his car back........NOW THAT IS LUCKY!