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Raymond Fries
04-20-2015, 10:24 PM
I have a buyer for something I listed on craigslist. he said he cannot come look at it because of work schedule. He offered to send me a US certified check or a cashiers check to pay for it. he said after the check clears, his mover would come pick it up.

Is there any way I can lose on this? I have never had any experience with this kind of payment.

Thanks

Robert McGowen
04-20-2015, 10:43 PM
Total scam. The check clearing the bank does not necessarily mean that it will end up being a good check. In all likelyhood, the check will be returned a couple of weeks later and you will be liable for the check amount. Another clue is that the "buyer" will at some point offer to actually pay more with the check than you are asking and you can pay the moving company for him with those funds.

Tom M King
04-20-2015, 10:48 PM
and you probably need to talk to his Wife about it too. I never understood the handoff to the Wife. I had a piano on CL and got several texts a day about Music Instrument.

Bruce Page
04-20-2015, 11:00 PM
Don't even consider it - SCAM!

From the Craigslist "Avoiding Scams" page:
2. Distant person offers a genuine-looking (but fake) cashier's check:


You receive an email or text (examples below) offering to buy your item, pay for your services in advance, or rent your apartment, sight unseen and without meeting you in person.
A cashier's check is offered for your sale item as a deposit for an apartment or for your services.
Value of cashier's check often far exceeds your item—scammer offers to "trust" you, and asks you to wire the balance via money transfer service.
Banks will cash fake checks AND THEN HOLD YOU RESPONSIBLE WHEN THE CHECK FAILS TO CLEAR, sometimes including criminal prosecution.
Scams often pretend to involve a 3rd party (shipping agent, business associate, etc.).

Kent A Bathurst
04-20-2015, 11:34 PM
What about a money order? Are those solid dollars?

Shawn Pachlhofer
04-20-2015, 11:52 PM
money orders can be faked too.

the only money order I will accept is a USPS money order - because you can take it to any post office and they will verify it is legit.

Mike Henderson
04-21-2015, 12:04 AM
Total scam. It's been around forever. Usually, the check or money order will be for more than the payment amount and they want you to give them the difference. So they get your tool and some of your money.

Banks are required to "clear" a check in a short amount of time. But if the check is bad, they just take it out of your account. When you deposit the account, YOU are now standing for that check, not the person who gave it to you. If it's bad, the bank take the money from you and you have to get the money from the person who gave you the check (Good Luck on that!).

Tell him to have a courier bring you CASH and see how quickly he disappears. Or suggest he mail you CASH via certified mail. I guarantee he will immediately lose interest.

Mike

[The guy may not even be in the United States.]

Kent A Bathurst
04-21-2015, 12:16 AM
money orders can be faked too.

the only money order I will accept is a USPS money order - because you can take it to any post office and they will verify it is legit.

Cool - thanks.......

I have only done bidness via c/l once - and that was face-to-face, I delivered, folding money in my hand. I have always been nervous with that marketplace, so I sell via Creek / Contributors only.........

Chuck Wintle
04-21-2015, 4:50 AM
I have a buyer for something I listed on craigslist. he said he cannot come look at it because of work schedule. He offered to send me a US certified check or a cashiers check to pay for it. he said after the check clears, his mover would come pick it up.

Is there any way I can lose on this? I have never had any experience with this kind of payment.

Thanks
As many have said this is a known scam and this person is trying to scam you.

Dan Hintz
04-21-2015, 7:24 AM
I have a buyer for something I listed on craigslist. he said he cannot come look at it because of work schedule. He offered to send me a US certified check or a cashiers check to pay for it. he said after the check clears, his mover would come pick it up.

Is there any way I can lose on this? I have never had any experience with this kind of payment.

Thanks

The ONLY way I would go with a shipper is if the shipper paid me in cash before loading the item. Anything beyond this is easily (and often) faked.

EDIT: Side story. I was selling a sought-after bodykit for my S2000 back in the day (it was a $3k kit, and this was about 15 years ago). A local "kid" just HAD to have it, but he could never seem to come up with the money to pay me in person. He asked if he could have his shippers come pick it up and pay me... I said fine, if they had cash. As scheduled, the shippers showed up... and wanted to pay by check. Nope. Kid moved back to his home country a week or two later... and a lot of people were out money. They accepted checks.

Curt Harms
04-21-2015, 8:15 AM
Total scam. It's been around forever. Usually, the check or money order will be for more than the payment amount and they want you to give them the difference. So they get your tool and some of your money.

Banks are required to "clear" a check in a short amount of time. But if the check is bad, they just take it out of your account. When you deposit the account, YOU are now standing for that check, not the person who gave it to you. If it's bad, the bank take the money from you and you have to get the money from the person who gave you the check (Good Luck on that!).

Tell him to have a courier bring you CASH and see how quickly he disappears. Or suggest he mail you CASH via certified mail. I guarantee he will immediately lose interest.

Mike

[The guy may not even be in the United States.]

Ya never know. Maybe they have a 'printing' (counterfeiting) branch :D.

Pat Barry
04-21-2015, 8:18 AM
I recently bought a used car with a cashiers check from my credit union. I looked at it and thought it looked pretty much a fake, even the name of the credit union isn't well known. I know it was good obviously but I wasn't sure the other guy would take it. He did and the rest is history. I just don't feel all that comfortable walking around with $5000 cash. What's a better solution?

Charles Wiggins
04-21-2015, 8:37 AM
I get 2-3 of these every time I list a group of items on CL. They are a total scam. There are usually clues. The "I am too busy" or "too far away to come inspect" is a big one. Often, their emails will talk about "the item" instead of being specific, I've gotten emails asking if I still have "the car" even though I was selling a truck. Some of the better ones will use the title of the posting. I've had a few who will take the exchange off CL where you get an email address. (BTW: I have a Gmail account specifically for CL, so if it starts getting ugly I can just close it down and create another one, and they don't have my main email to target.) Once I have their email address I Google it and most of the time someone has posted about their bad experience getting scammed by the person behind that address. I have never had a inquiry from outside my 50 mile radius that was genuine.

Just delete the email and go on.

Steve Rozmiarek
04-21-2015, 8:53 AM
This may be a scam, but a cashiers check written on a local bank is good. It's easier to wire money though if you have a local bank in common, have him use your bank of choice as the middleman if you want to pursue the deal. If he balks, it's a scam.

Myk Rian
04-21-2015, 8:54 AM
Craigslist = Cash only.

Scott Shepherd
04-21-2015, 8:57 AM
I have a buyer for something I listed on craigslist. he said he cannot come look at it because of work schedule.

Offer to met him in his work parking lot at his convenience and see how the story changes.

Rod Sheridan
04-21-2015, 9:15 AM
I have a buyer for something I listed on craigslist. he said he cannot come look at it because of work schedule. He offered to send me a US certified check or a cashiers check to pay for it. he said after the check clears, his mover would come pick it up.

Is there any way I can lose on this? I have never had any experience with this kind of payment.

Thanks

Have him send you an email money transfer..............Rod.

Wade Lippman
04-21-2015, 9:36 AM
Tell him you will wait 3 weeks after cashing the check to give it time to bounce. If he is okay with that you can lose only the $25 your bank will charge for a bounced check. He knows it won't get him anything, so why would he bother sending you a check unless it was good?

I did that once and regretted it. I kept waiting for the notice that the check bounced. It never did, and all was well. But paying paypal a couple percent would have let me sleep better.

Mike Henderson
04-21-2015, 10:01 AM
Ya never know. Maybe they have a 'printing' (counterfeiting) branch :D.
Yes, but you can take the cash to the bank immediately. If the bank accepts the cash (and they will check it) you're home free. The bank can't go back and find where a specific $100 bill came from once it goes into the teller's tray.

Like Myk said: Craigslist = cash. Never take anything else.

Mike

Raymond Fries
04-21-2015, 1:44 PM
Thanks for all ofthe good advice everyone. Looks like this really does have a scent of a possible scam. I like the idea of cash combined with the offer to bring it to his work. I might just not respond to him. after reading your responses, I wondered why if he was so busy, he just did not give the cash to his "mover" to come pick it up.

I listed that PTAC unit that I posted in the classified ads here after there was no interest. If you missed it and you could use one check the classified ads here. One of my concerns is to move it. It is big and heavy and I have a Toyota Matrix. i am not really all that comfortable inviting unknowns to my home. At the same time, I do not want to take it somewhere for a no show.

Oh well, someone will have a home for it soon.

Tom M King
04-21-2015, 4:20 PM
I meet in my bank parking lot, accept cash, and once it's okayed by a teller, goods exchange hands. Anything else, don't waste my time.

Jim Becker
04-21-2015, 9:09 PM
The "I'm away/abroad/busy and will pay-by-cashier's-check and send my mover/shipper" is 99.999999999% a scam...if not 100%. Don't even bother to reply.