I was selling some furniture on craiglslist. "Steven Carl" said he wanted to buy it and was going to send me a money order because he was traveling. After a week I received from him another email telling me the following:
Hi, I hope you are fine and alright.I have been busy myself but doing great. There is something i think i must bring to your notice. After a reconciliation of my account, i discovered that somehow my
assistant must have over paid you. The payment that was meant for another transaction was sent to you and the one meant for you was sent to another; however i want to believe i wont have a problem with you.Please once you receive your payment, i will like you to deduct your money and send the remaining via western union to the manager of the shipping company that will help me with the pick-up.
Deduct the western union transfer fees from the remaining money.I will ask the shippers to contact you
as soon as possible, Let me know if this is ok with you when you get this mail. Please contact me as soon as you get your payment. Warm regards. Steven Carl
A friend warned me this is a common scam using fake money orders. I told Steven Carl I would only send back to him the exta money after cashing his money order and see actual money on my account. He did not answer and I canceled the sale.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
Flynrider
Phoenix,Arizona,
USA
Don't do it.
#2Consumer Comment
Tue, December 07, 2010
" I told Steven Carl I would only send back to him the exta money after cashing his money order and see actual money on my account"
He would probably be OK with that and you would still be getting ripped off. This scam works because banks are required by law to make money available before the check or money order actually clears (which can take 7-10 days). Just because the money shows up in your account does not mean the money order is good. If you sent the money, your bank would later notify you that the money order is bogus and you owe them.
This is a very common scam. You should never send Western Union transfers to someone you don't know. They are untraceable, so they are the best way for a scammer to get his hands on your money without leaving a trace. Western Union has signs at all of there outlets warning you not to send money to unknown persons for this reason.