John M. Carosiello Offered $20 more than asking for a craigs list item, sent bogas check for $2000 extra wanted me to "western union extra funds" back to him. would have his "mover" pick up the item Washington, District of Columbia
I was selling an item on the Kalamazoo, Michigan Craigs list. I left an email address for contact information. John responded that he wanted to purchase the item. He offered $80 more than the asking price because he really wanted it. He asked for my contact information so he could send me a certified check. The next email was that I needed to contct him when I received the check and he would send his "mover" to pick up the item. The next email, his assistant sent too much money.
I was to keep an additional $100 for my time and Western Union the extra back to him. I received a check via FedEx for $2,000 more than the sale price. The check was form Scottsdale Insurance Company, in Scottsdale, AZ. The sender on the FedEx slip was Univ of Mail Services, 1100 L Street, NW room 9020, Washington, DC. The check contained the name Huntington Natinal Bank. There is a Huntington National Bank where I live.I brought the check to the bank and they verified the check contained a non-existing account number.
2 Updates & Rebuttals
Steve
United States of AmericaNot sure a victim would actually do prison time
#3Consumer Comment
Fri, December 30, 2011
I cannot imagine someone would do prison time if they were not the ones to perpetuate the fraud. However, major kudos for checking with the bank first! Too many people do not, and end up owing their banks a LOT of money.
TruthSayer
Montgomery,Alabama,
USA
Scam
#3Consumer Comment
Fri, December 30, 2011
Well, you did the right thing by checking this out with the bank before going through with it. However, I am quite concerned that you did not IMMEDITATELY know it was an obvious scam, as it has been exposed by EVERY known form of the media for YEARS !!! Additionally, the warnings about this scam are posted in GREAT DETAIL all over CraigsList. Did you not even bother to read these warnings ?? Did you not even for a moment consider that they were meant for YOU ???
Sure, you dodged a bullet THIS time. But I strongly suggest that you wake up and wise up. Start paying attention to what is going on in the world. And, start reading the warnings that are posted for your benefit.
For your own good, I suggest that the NEXT time you fail to heed any warnings, you just might find yourself involved in a LOT of trouble. Believe it or not, and I sincerely hope that you DO, there are a great number of people serving time in prison right now for BANK FRAUD simply because they refused to pay attention to all of the warnings and cashed those phony checks anyway. Just ask your bank about this. Read the newspaper stories concerning this scam and the consequences involved. Read the reports right here on RoR from people who were sentenced to prison for cashing these checks. It will most certainly open your eyes.