Scam?

[ojmagg]

walks like a duck...smells like a duck...

[quentind]

This is going around the net. My buddy was trying to sell his Ford Escape and got the same type of reply. He exchanged info. Two weeks later he gets a money order for 18000$, 6 G's over what he asked for. He brings it to me and it looks like a scam, like it was printed off a computer. First the guys claims he is from Ireland, but the money order is from a Montana bank with a cheap looking Florida water mark that disapears when you hold it to light. The amount was hand writen, not printed. The paper was cut on 3 sides precise, but on a 4th side it looks like he tried to fake a proliferated edge like it was torn out of a "check book", which makes no sense for a money order. He took it to his bank and they said it was fake and they are investigation it asap with federal law agency. The envelope it arrived in was not from overseas, but no return address was writen. Scam.

[Pghachey]

The same thing happened to me a bout a year and a half ago. What's wierd is the letter/email you got was almost identical to mine. I did get a cashier's check and went to the bank. Feeling something wasn't right (they sent it for too much and wanted me to send them the balance back to them in a M.O.) I asked the bank to check it out. They got in touch with the local authorities, the FBI I think, and found out this was probably a scam. I basically lost $14.00, in paperwork fees, but I went with my gut instinct and foiled their plan to get my vehicle and cash. I would send any info you have so far on these people to your bank and/or local authorities. I hope it all works out for you.

[Tone]

I received $8000 in checks from overseas for my old ML parts - 1 Cashier's Check and 2 Postal Money Orders that looked legit and the bank cashed. I sat on the money for 5 weeks and sure enough, they were bad. I of course had not shipped anything and got the bank to release the balance of my funds after they got theirs - seems they don't take lightly to $8000 worth of bad checks! Wire transfers are the safest as the bank carries the liability.