Sellers Beware!
Here are but a few examples of scams directed at sellers of goods over the internet.
The PayPal Scam
Some sellers have been the target of a scam similar to that described here. In this scam, the scammer will send an email pretending to be from paypal that tells you the money has been sent, it will go further to suggest that Paypal has witheld access to the money until the courier company has been paid by you.
The Cashier’s Check Scam:
Several sellers have been the target of a scam involving a counterfeit Cashier’s Cheque (a.k.a. cashier’s cheque, banker’s cheque, bank cheque, official cheque, demand draft, teller’s cheque, banker’s draft or treasurer’s cheque.)
Here is a variant used on boat sellers:
A scammer (often from a foreign country, using poor grammar) offers to buy your boat for a price higher than your asking price, using a cashier’s check.
He says to deposit the check and wait for it to clear before releasing the boat and sending him the money in excess of your asking price.
Your bank OK’s the check, you send the excess amount to the scammer who arranges to have your boat picked up or delivered to some foreign client. Then after a week or so the bank informs you that the check was counterfeit and that your account is frozen until you reimburse the bank for the full amount of the cashier cheque. You thus end up without a boat, and with a debt exceeding by several thousand dollars the value of your boat!
Internet users should use common sense and not get “blinded” by the large amounts of money being offered. Remember: if an offer sounds too good to be true, it probably is!