So, I researched as much as I could online but could not find the answers. Please read the following story and help, it'd be greatly appreciated.

So I'm trying to sell some personal assets on craigslists, and I have 2 very interested buyers. They said their form of payment will be through cashiers check. Receiving a check rang a bell in my head of fraud fraud fraud. So I told the buyer, I'm not going to give/ship anything until the check clears with the bank and it is ready to cash out. Meaning: I'm not going to ship ANYTHING until I have cash at hand. He agreed to this. So the purchase price is 410$ and THEN he said he will send a check of 500$. He then said that I will have to send the excess funds(90$) via western union back to him upon completion of our transaction. HELP!! Is this a scam?? He said he will wait until the bank clears out that the check is indeed legit, so at one point, I will have ALL the cash in my hand. The whole me sending back 90$ via Western Union.. that's kinda got me thinking leery about this whole thing. Anyways, thanks in advance.

 

https://www.scionlife.com/forums/vie...550&highlight=

dont be another craigslist scam victim..

 

TAKE THE CHECK AND BURN IT ONCE YOU GET IT.. THEN TELL THE BUYER F U SCAMMER

 

yes you are gonna be scammed.. how about him sending his payment through western union cash.. wouldnt be that easy and less complicated?

 

Ok, here I go - explaining advance fee fraud.

When you put the so-called "cashiers check" in the bank, the bank automatically credits your account with the amount of the check. HOWEVER - just because the bank SAYS the full amount of money has been deposited in your account, the money isn't actually "ok'd" by the bank until the check is cleared and the funds released by the issuing institution. This typically takes 2-3 weeks after the bank receives your check. The scam relies on you not really understanding how banks and the whole check system works. Once you send back the scammer the "excess funds", that money is gone because your sending it Western Union. AND on top of that, the bank will "remove" the $410 left in your account because the check isn't real and you don't have the right to that money even if they credited to your account initially.

You should tell the guy to go screw himself. THere is NO damn reason why he's writing you a check for $90 extra.

 

he sent me a 4,000$ check. i'm going to take pics and put it up soon.. lol

 

DO NOT DO NOT DO NOT cash it. Its a huge scam. Craiglist warns about it in EVERY email they send you. Why even bother?

 

lol of course i'm not going to cash it. it's just funny i told the guy off to go screw himself and yet he still sent me the check haha

 

i deal with these idiots all the time. i have them send me checks with the most ridiculous names. on my desk right now i have checks written to:

Heywood Jablowme
Seymour Butz
Adolph Oliverbush
Toogals Woncup

These people are scum of the earth. One of them actually called me trying to get me to send them the money, they were in London so I kept having them call me back to waste their time and money on phone calls.

I cant believe people still fall for this ____.

 

Be careful with that. If they know who you really are, they might retaliate against you. The actions you describe sound like "scam-baiting" to me. There's a whole group of people on the tubes devoted to scam-baiting scammers. They do it for their own amusement and to keep the scammers from targeting real victims. Unfortunately, I would guess the london scammers know your real name and telephone number. Usually, a scammer sure isn't going to take the time to fly from there to here to administer a beat down but keep in mind, these guys are criminals. I think you need to stop talking to this scammer altogether. If you ignore them, they will eventually go away. If you bait them, they might get irritated enough to come after you - more problematic if they know your real ID.

 

i remember watching a dateline episode where they went after these scammer in london i believe. anyway, the crew actually flew out there and dealt with these people face to face. the only difference was that it had to do with the "secret" funds you have in your name type of deal.

they couldn't do anything to prosecute them, but it sure showed what these scammer would do to get your money/info.