Victim Location 97013
Type of a scam Fake Check/Money Order
I was contacted by an OfferUp user regarding an item I was selling. I was suspect immediately b/c he wanted to email outside of the application. The first red flags were that he wanted to pay me an extra $50 to hold the item for a couple of days until he mailed me a cashiers check-even though he claimed to live in the next town over approximately 6 miles away.
Then his story changed with every email. I went along with the whole scam just to see where is was going-it was both angering and entertaining. So apparently he would not be able to pick the item b/c he would be on his honeymoon in Canada so a shipping company (in California) would be involved. He kept assuring me the ‘check was in the mail’ along with a what looked like a real Federal Express tracking #. He said the check included extra funds for the shipping & that we needed to follow the instructions in the FedEx package.
At this point I stopped responding to his emails, but his kept coming. Shockingly, the Fed. Ex. came with a (fake) check from (real) bank far away. The check was for $1000 ($950 more than the item cost); the scary part is that the check looked legit….anybody could fall for the scam. The included letter said to call his cell number immediately (which was a different # then he had given us) and give him our name, address, account # etc.
I was just going to lie this whole thing go, I didnt any money, but it really upsets me that people get away with scamming others!