Online sellers beware!

How many times have you heard the saying "buyers beware"?  Unfortunately, the way things are now, everyone must watch themselves.  I thought I'd share a little thing that happened in my life recently.  I am an avid Craigslist user.  I think it's a great tool to buy and sell items locally.  However, it gives you a chance to be introduced to creepsters. 

I recently listed a wedding dress on Craigslist.  A couple of weeks later, I received an email from someone supposedly named Kelly Anderson.  She said she was in the US Army and was planning on getting married as soon as she returned from her deployment in Iraq.  She said she wanted to buy this dress and have it mailed to her mother.  She even told me what city, which was a city in my state, but not a well known city. 

Military is my weakness...so of course I agreed.  I gave her my address to send me the payment.  The following week a cashiers check arrived for $1000.  No return address, no information, just a check in envelope postmarked "Dallas, TX". 

Well, I was not expecting a $1,000 from anyone, especially not for the dress because it was no where near that amount.  As exciting as it may have seemed, I knew better. The check appeared legit...but I wanted verification.  The check said it was issued from Wells Fargo.  However, when I called the number listed on the check, it was an international number that couldn't be dialed.  After finding a good number for Wells Fargo, I called them and was told they had not issued the check number I provided them. 

Later that night, I received another email from "Kelly Anderson" stating there was an error and her mother had sent the incorrect amount to me.  She wanted to know if I would send her the overpayment. 

Obviously, this is a scam.  Not only could I have been out the money, had I actually cashed the check, but it is also a crime.  If I had cashed the check, I would have been unknowingly committing check fraud.  So, I just wanted to give a little warning to those of you that buy and sell online...just beware.