Fraud season

[Reaper]

I suspected early on this person was not as genuine as he/she came across. Never called me when I asked about the deal that was supposed to do down and very low key on specifics. Ok so here is the story and why you should check with a banking institution to make sure a check/cashiers check is real:

Someone on craigslist emailed me about wanting to buy my 50" DLP for $500. The name on the email made me wonder about this person to begin with as it being beejay70@gmail.com. But giving the benefit of the doubt and wondering about this I went along with it. Here is the email I recieved along with half a dozen others:

"Hello, Thanks for your information....Due to shipping and insurance,and that a mover company is coming to pick up from you. You will receive via Certified Check of $2600 then you deduct the cost price $500 for it, then you will assist in forwarding the moving cost which is the balance/extra via Western Union/Money gram to the mover who will be coming to pick up, and this must be done in good faith.I will offer you extra $100 for your running expenses after you might have got your fund deducted I will like to read from you concerning this moving arrangement before processing and sending the payment out to you.So get back to me if i can have trust in you? Hopefully to hear from you soon. Thanks."

As soon as I got the payment in a fedex envelope, I noticed the sending address was in Syracuse, NY and the forwarding address the money was to be wired to was in Jackson, TN. Just this alone sent red flags and had me going to the bank to contact the name of the bank that supposedly issued the cashiers check and it came up a fraudulent account. Needless-to-say I gave the check and addresses and emails to the bank to give to investigators to see about putting a stop to it.

So craigslist people beware and as the emails from craigslist tell you, beware of wire transfers and out of state transactions which are built around this kind of scheme.

[TheGimp]

i got 2 letters similar to this one in the mail for a thing called secret shopper and shadow shopper i couldnt tell if they were legit they asked me to take the check they sent to me and go to the area were you wire money i would then have them take the check and wire the money from the check back to them and have the place were i cashed the check give me the money kinda like a real check i would then proceed with my secret shopping and (analize) the store and keep 100$ and whatever i bought as a gift....seemed phoney to me i wasnt sure

[Msterbeau]

Online deals. Face to face with cash or Paypal. Only. Anything with ANY kind of check is likely to be fraud and avoided. They say as much on Craigslist.

[Reaper]

Oh yeah, that is part of the reason I was suspect of what he was trying to do. The name of the recipient of the wire transfer was like a female name of renee although the guy DID call me and was very hard to understand as he was very foreign. Couldn't tell what kind of accent though. I put the TV back up on Craigs list this time asking for cash only. Hmm, check coming from Syracuse, NY, a wire transfer going to Jackson, TN and inquiring about a TV in Michigan that is not worth spending cash to have it moved. It just totally wreaked of fraud. I just told the guy that the bank that issues those cashiers checks told MY bank that it was a fraudulent account. I think he expected me to cash it first and deal with everything. Problem is, that it happened to my brother a few years ago when he sold his motorcycle. Took the cashiers check and cashed it, sent the bike to the address, and the bank came back on him and told him it was a fraudulent check and that he owed just under $10,000. Don't know how you can do that without thinking first.