Misc. Article

Since I plan to get classified ads up for our members soon, I figured I would post this to get the word out.

The people that need to watch out for this scam are the 'sellers'.

Since I am selling my timeshare I have had 2 different offers come in from people attempting to scam me. Here is the basis on how the scam works:

A seller puts a product up for sale on the internet. The seller is contacted by a potential buyer. The buyer shows interest and agrees to buy the product and send a cashiers check to complete the purchase. The buyer contacts the seller stating that he accidentally sent too much money for the sale, and asks the seller to deposit the cashiers check in their bank account, and send the difference back to them (minus a small amount that the seller can keep for the trouble).
The seller takes the check to the bank, confirms that it is a valid check, and gets their account credited for the full amount of the check, then wires cash back to the buyer (to make up for the difference).

Several weeks later, the seller is contacted by the bank - the cashiers check was bad, and the ENTIRE AMOUNT of the check is deducted from their account. The seller is out the money that they wired to the buyer plus the product that they sent.

Your bank may appear to be responsible for the misinformation, but this is NOT the case. You are responsible for those funds.

In my case, I have a timeshare for sale ($3500). One guy said he wanted it and would send a cashiers check. Next day he emailed stating that he buys a lot of timeshares, and mixed up 2 of the payments - sending me $7000, instead of $3500. He told me to deposit the check, and wire him $3000. I could keep the $500 for my troubles. Luckily I knew of this scam, or else I may have done as he said - and I would have lost $3000. Two weeks later, I had another person try the same thing with a slight variation.

Unfortunately, it can take a very long time before your bank finds out the cashiers check is a fraud. I have heard one story of it taking 6 weeks. This is a VERY PREVALENT scam, and has many variations.

When selling items make sure you know the buyer - or have a secure way of handling the transaction (such as PayPal).

If anyone knows of other similar scams (or variations of this one) please post it in the comments section below.