Craiglist scam Henry Cooper [mailto:[email protected]

From: Henry Cooper [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Monday, February 14, 2011 5:08 PM
Subject: Re: 13 Waiting Room Chairs - Date: 2011-02-12, 4:55PM EST Reply to:

This deal is on and the secretary has prepared the check as promise
But there seems to be a little problem which i think we can handle
with care.......When i contact the secretary to confirm if the payment
has been prepared,I was made to understand that she made out a check
of $2500 instead of $225 claiming that's what i told her ...... The
payment was already posted before i was informed about this but i
would not want to delay the sale because of this as we have rectify
this with the Bank.All you have to do once you receive this check is
to take it to the Bank and have it deposited which should be cleared
same day or
withing 1-2 days , Once cleard and cashed you will deducted your
money (for the item )
and plus an additional $50 for all the assistance.The excess fund on
the payment
will then be wired to my mover via Western union that same day so that he
can come for
the pick up as i have already planed on using the excess on the
payment to offset the cost of the various shipments he as undertaken
on my behalf. Do let me know if i can trust you to have the excess
sent to my mover as soon as you have check cleared...Please reply me
as soon as possible....
Regards.

Welcome RWD and thanks for posting this.

For those who may not be familiar with these scams, this is a standard fake check/overpayment scam. The scammer and "mover" are the same person. The scammer has sent a fake check that may be good enough to pass initial inspection. The bank will issue the cash (as is required by law) in a few days, so he wants the victim to take the cash and send most of it to himself (posing as the "mover.") He will then disappear, and nobody will show up to pick up the items he "bought."

Then in a couple of weeks, the bank will finally prove the check is fake. They will take the money back from the victim who cashed it, charge a whole bunch of fees on top of it, and possibly even call the police and have the victim arrested for check fraud.

Ultimately the victim will lose all of the money he sent, plus a lot more in fees and fines. The scammer, who isn't who he claimed to be in the first place, has simply walked away with the cash.