I was trying to sell some wheels and tires on a local free classified website (craigslist) and somebody contacted me about them. I have been dealing with this person for a couple of months now and they finally sent payment. I was asking $1500 for the wheels and tires and they sent me a cashiers check for $3500 and wanted the remainder of the money sent back to them.....in Nigeria via Western Union. Now I'm dealing with 2 idiots. They both said that they sent me $4500 and they want $4000 back, not by bank wiring, but by Western Union. I called the bank that the cashiers check was ssued from to verify the account # and to verify funds. I was sent to the crimes dept. of the bank and I left a message. The cashiers check is fake. I'm just really pissed that somebody is trying to take my hard earned money. Sorry, I had to vent.

Wow its like they combined several common scams into one mega-scam to get you. Anything involving Nigeria/Eastern Europe is a scam. Anything involving Western Union is a scam. Cashiers checks and Money orders are always fake and even though they will sometimes verify and cash it for you, it can take up to 90 days to clear and the bank will come to you to get their money back. Never accept more than the purchase price and have to send a partial refund back, this never happens in reality only in scam world. Never use escrow because its usually a fake escrow.

I just set up a merchant account with Google Checkout so i could take credit card payments for some plants, it is fee free for the next year and took about 90 seconds to set up. Looks even easier than Paypal.

Doesn't have to be pretty -

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The bad thing about craigslist here in Omaha is that it isn't very well know. I was trying to sell a weight bench and the first 20 people who replied wanted me to ship it to Nigeria, I finally found someone but it just doesn't have the exposure.

The avoiding scams web page has all of the red flags I see with your post. I hope you weren't actually considering wiring money back to them if that cashier's check clears because sometimes it actually does.

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I still have the wheels and tires and the cashiers check. I called the bank that issued the check and they transfered me to their crimes dept./detective. They also tried to use the telephone operator as a middle man as to not have their phone number traced.

I'm glad you caught it before you sent your stuff

I got 2 more fake money orders in the mail today. The envelope didn't have a return address on it and there was no name or letter with them. They were for $2500 a piece. Funny thing is we get these money orders all the time from customers. These are definately fake.

I called the Federal Trade Commission yesterday and turned them in. I got 2 more money orders for $2500 each. I also got an email saying that if I returned the remainder of the money that nothing would happen. Stupid people.

Sounds like a job for Butch of Anus computers and the rest of the hunters at scambaiter.

Those guys are brutal to these people. "Butch" suckered a scammer named Cole into paying the shipping on a few shipments to him. He had to pay DHL about 5 grand to prick up the shipments. He got a trashcan and an old broken washing machine.