Crime Busting

I'm a crime buster. Well, actually I'm an aspiring crime buster. But, not for much longer because it stresses me out too much. There is no way I could be a detective or anything similar.

So, I occasionally sell things on KSL - my bike, the boys' crib, and so on. It has worked out really well and we mostly make a nice profit from the things I buy and sell secondhand.

A while ago I posted an advert for some curtains which look new. I'm selling them for $25. I received an email from a man saying he is interested in purchasing them. I emailed him back asking him when he wanted to come buy them. He said he would send me a check and once I received the check, he would send a delivery guy to come get them. I was suspicious. Clearly he doesn't live close by and who knows if I will get any money with a check. But, I decided to play with him a bit and said Yes! So, a few days later I got an email saying that this was for his boss and his boss would send me a certified cashier's check. Then I heard that his wife was in a car accident and was in a coma, but that also his secretary had sent a check with his money for $1,999 by mistake . He said the check had already been sent and he asked if the money would be safe with me. I replied in the affirmative, waiting to see what would happen next.

Well, on Tuesday I received a letter through FEDEX containing the check, which had been mailed overnight from Illinois. He told me the previous Saturday that the check was in the mail. Well, that wasn't true. Plus, it was not a certified cashier's check. So, I called up the bank, which is located in Florida and asked them to verify the check, which incidentally, was not made out in his name, but some company name. Clearly not his money as he had previously stated! The bank said that there are sufficient funds in the account, BUT the company had not issued this check and it was fraudulent. They asked me to mail them the check as well the slip from FEDEX containing the information from where it was sent. I did so immediately. The next day this guy emailed me asking why I hadn't let him know I had received the check (I had to sign for the check which means that he could check online that I had received it). I told him I had been busy but that the check had been mailed into the bank, although I was not telling him which bank.

He then sent me his address and said as soon as I have the cash, can I send it to him via Western Union? I immediately forwarded his address to the fraud department at the bank from which the check was issued. I don't know if they can do anything about him because he lives in the UK. So, I'm trying to stall a bit so that the bank has an opportunity to find out who is behind this scam because apparently this company from which the check was supposedly issued is struggling with this problem and have not been able to catch the culprits.

We'll see what happens next, but if he keeps pestering me and I have no way of further stalling him, I will have to let him know that the check was fraudulent and the bank from which it is issued now has it.

That will then be the end of my crime-busting career!