Checks are fine. Just wait a week or two till it clears. Once it clears, you're golden.

Actually it can take longer than that for a bank to return it. Best not to take one. Cash talks

Too bad. Lesson learned. Sorry to hear it happen to a fellow BFer. Be careful out there huh.

Wow, I didn't think anyone actually fell for that one.
Pretty much every single time i post something on craigslist I get that same offer from someone out of state, they don't need to see the item, they are ready to purchase and will even pay extra for me to remove the listing now and send them my info. Yeah RIGHT! LOL!

I mean seriously.... WHY or HOW could you mistakenly send someone a money order for that wrong of an amount, or wrong at all even. It takes a little bit of effort to get a money order. And why wouldn't you just send the original money order back and tell him to send a new one?

Shout out to all the idiots that keep these scammers in business.

fake

this never happened. there's no way anyone in this day and age would fall for that.

Up until the point you find out they're alot fitter than they look, as they give you the lance lookback and drop you like a sack of potatoes.

I've had a number of attempted money order and/or bank cheque scams via CL. I always end the email exchange the same way:

them - "I can have my bank cut a cheque for my purchasing agent blah blah blah..."
me - "If your bank can write them a cheque, then they can also get cash. Have your agent show up with cash and I'll even drop the price by 10%."

I've never gotten a response after demanding cash, even when I offer to drop the price for a cash transaction.

This is the oldest scam in the books. It's the number one scam you would have read about if you'd ever done any research on internet scams.

You'd be surprised how many people still fall for this. For some reason they get mind blocked by the whole thing. Moneybookers is another one going around. People selling things on craigslist for cheap, but they are abroad. You send them money to their moneybookers account and pick up the item with a full 30 day return period form the moneybookers warehouse. Moneybookers has a website, seems to be legit, like paypal (or as legit as paypal can be). Problem is there is no moneybookers warehouse (In the US) and you have no recourse to get your money back.

There is an entirely "new" class of criminal and one has to be smart when shopping online. And selling online. If anything seems even the least bit fishy ... walk away. Don't ship unless you have been paid via paypal or cash

Heck, just in the last couple of years around here the treasurer of a county was found to have embezzled several hundred thousand dollars to fund her payments to a Nigerian 419'er.

I mean, really? Falling for a 419 scam? For pity's sake, Nigerian 419s are part of popular culture, how ignorant to you have to be?

Just goes to show you, greed conquers intelligence.

Lots of good scam avoidance info.
BTW, I have not had any issues with Paypal and/or Ebay. I have been playing on Ebay about 6 years now.

If you never mail back the excess, nobody is out anything. But these kind of transactions usually follow a series of email contacts, sometimes even telephone conversations, all designed to gain the "CON"fidence of the victim. The OP claims the excess money was called a "mistake." There are a multitude of other lies and stories, really a limitless number, that always end in the victim having to send back their own money. Sometimes they think they are getting to keep some of the "excess" for their troubles (using the victim's greed as the hook), but with auction sale scams they really need only prey on the victim's honesty. The victim's own valid funds clear the banking system and are gone in a few days, the bogus funds the victim received take a few weeks to be returned to the victims bank, and the scam is complete. The victim sees the money in their bank account after a few days, and has no idea that the money order or check can be cancelled days to weeks later when it is discovered to be bogus.

I don't know if the OP is victim or troll, but I do know that the scam is more successful than you would think. Victims are embarrassed by their naivete, and frequently do not report the crime.

You think that's bad, you don't want to hear what happened to me when I flashed my bike light at a car that "forgot" to turn their headlights on.

Is there anyway to cash the money order without them finding you later when it bounces?
Like one of those check cashing places or something?
I'm just wondering if there is some way to reverse the scam and scam the scammer.

Damn! you beat me to it.
I need a bridge, wanna swap for some land I own on the moon?

gang initiation?

Actually, you are. You're out the returned item fee from your bank. And I got nailed on an eBay/Paypal deal that was quite well done although I understand the current rules are different (but may still allow what happened to me)

-Roger

Sure why not? There was also a bloody hook hanging from their door handle, so they had their own set of problems to deal with.

It is a fake money order, they still are out nothing. Those check cashing places would track you down and get their money back. The scammers put nothing into the money order, they simply forge one. No different than me writing one on a piece of paper in crayola, they are both fake.

I suppose. I don't have those on my account, so it didn't come to mind.

Or he leaves you his key ring with his car keys on it, and you find out the car he drove up in is stolen. Or he took the bus.

I was looking at a used bike. Once I felt I might want it I gave the person the cash while I test rode it. Came back with bike got cash and did not buy bike.

Oh man the OP smells like a cattle ranch with a lot of male cattle.

This is actually untrue. If you deposit a bad check into your account most Banks will charge you a fee for "uncollected funds" once they attempt to actually process the check.