Posted by Friendly Advice on June 25, 2004 at 00:19:46:
CURRENT SCAM PRESENTLY OCCURRING: Keep your eyes and ears open for potential buyers from other countries! They do not seem to be targeting specific items for purchase, as they are more concerned with the entire scam process itself. If a potential buyer should contact you regarding an item that you have up for sale, watch for the warning signs and take steps to protect yourself. These people will always have an untraceable address, such as a free Email account with Yahoo. They will tell you that they are in another country and will be sending you a cashier's check. This CASHIER'S CHECK will be COUNTERFEIT and will be for a sum much larger than that which is being sold. You will be instructed to deposit the check into your account and take out cash to be wired to a local "shipper" within the U.S. Supposidly, the item you're selling will be picked up at a later date, but never is. Generally, these "potential buyers" will not give you a street address either. Whatever you do, do NOT deposit the cashier's check into your bank account. If you should do so, the bank will find out later that the check is counterfeit and your account will be frozen, leaving you liable for paying the amount back. If you are at all in doubt whether the potential sale is a scam, verify that the cashier's check is real. You can do this by finding the bank's phone number on the Internet and calling for verification. The banks do not have a problem with verifying funds for cashier's checks, especially since this scam has been televised and reported in newspapers lately. I have received two potential buyers from posting an ad on this site, so I am sure that many others out there are receiving inquiries from them as well. Thankfully, I did not fall victim to their ploy and am hopeful that I can forewarn others who might not be so lucky. If you have recently been taken in this type of scam, the only thing that I can suggest is for you to phone your local FBI and report it. If your local FBI doesn't seem to care, phone the Los Angeles FBI. They are very aware that this has been going on and are investigating the matter further. The best to all of you in selling your items. :0)
Follow Ups:
