Be Careful When Transferring Money on the Internet

This is a warning to those selling merchandise via the Internet.

I was nearly conned out of $1125, but, luckily, I caught it in time, and prevented it from occuring.

Here's my story: I listed my computer/monitor on craigslist for $400. In a day, I had a reply. In brief, this individual was going to buy this equipment, sight unseen.

This was his offer: he said he would mail me a cashiers check for $1525.
Then, was to deposit it in my bank account, wait three days for it to clear, then transfer the rest of the money to a mover.

Furthermore,he said he was going to be out of town for three weeks, and couldn't pick up the units himself.

So, I was to transfer $1125 using Western Union to a mover that was in Los Angeles.

The reason the moving charges were so high, was because he said he had other possessions in the city that were to be picked up.

So, I put the check in my bank, waited three days, and, so far, everything seemed okay. But, at this point, I hadn't sent him any money.

One week later, I was preparing to transfer the funds to this mover, only to receive a notice from my bank, fortunately, just in time, that they were "unable to locate account" that was printed on a duplicate of his original cashiers check.

What's frightening about all this is, looking back, it was a very real looking check from Chase Manhattan Bank. Of course, Chase Manhattan's website confirmed what I already suspected, that the routing and account numbers were fake.

Apparently, this guy was a professional. He knew it would take approximately 1 week before my bank caught this check. I hate to think how many people he's been successful using this scam against.

Today I contacted my local police department and they sent a patrolman out and, as I expected, they said there wasn't anything they could do. Also, of course, there was no residential listing for this guy in the whitepages.com for my city.

Luckily, I didn't lose $1125, and only had to pay a bank charge of seven dollars, which I can afford.

This has been quite the learning experience for me. I hope that this post can prevent others from being conned like I almost was.

My advice to you is: when you sell something on the Internet, do not accept a cashiers check from anyone.

Unfortunately, I'm not sure what's the best way to transfer funds over the Internet as, I'm still steamed, and haven't had much time to ponder over it.

I just wanted to warn all of you of the dangers involved from taking a cashiers check for something sold on the Internet.

Thank you for hearing me out.

Kearney Adams