Hey everyone. Need some thoughts on whether you think this is a scam or not. Admin knows full well that my husband and I went through the same thing she and her husband did and I thanked the Lord for finding her website before we lost $18,000 instead of $5,000.
Anyway, since we were scammed once, we are paranoid about taking cashier's check. My husband, who sells cars on-line regularly, is pretty much able to tell when he gets e-mails from scammers. So, when this last one came in, he thought it was a scammer.
However, the guy seems genuinely interested in the car, asking alot of questions, askings for pictures, on and on. My husband thinks maybe he's serious. They finally settle on a selling price. The buyer, with very poor English, said I will overnight a money order to you. My husband said we had to wait for it to clear. He then said cashier's check, my husband said the same thing. It got worse last Wednesday when my husband said the guy was going to call us to and guess what? He's deaf and is going to use the TDY/TTY (can't remember for sure which) system. I said that's a classic sign of a scammer.
The buyer overnights a cashier's check to us, for the exact amount they agreed upon. He also e-mailed the name of the transport company he is "hiring" to pick up the car along with a quote number.
The check came in last Friday, my husband took it to the bank and explained the situation (this is US Bank). They looked it over, thought it looked good, called the Integrated Payment Center (national center to check status of issued checks) and the check had been issued the day before. Okay, so the guy didn't pluck the top counterfeit check off his pile, type our name in it and send it to us. It actually WAS issued and WAS in the system.
Next bad thing, and Admin's can relate, it's from WaMU. Okay, but it actually WAS issued. I called the manager of our bank on Saturday, it had already cleared our account (gee, that's amazing). She said to keep checking the Integrated Payment Center to see if it cleared, which it did, today, which is Tuesday.
So, today I called WaMU's 800 number, they can't help me. I have to call the branch where the check was issued. She gave me the four branches in Kissimmee, FL, which is where the check was sent from. I called the Cypress Parkway branch, since, coincidentally, the guy overnighted the check from the UPS branch on Cypress Parkway.
The gal I talked to (and no I didn't get a name cause I got disconnected) got very indignant with me when I said I wanted to verify the authenticity of not the check, but what actually FUNDED the check. She stated that if they issued a certified check, the bank was certifying it to be good. I said, send me that it writing. Yeah, right. She also couldn't tell me if the man who bought the check was a customer, which I understand due to privacy laws. However, like I told her, I'm not only trying to protect myself, I'm trying to protect you. She seemed confused.
I said, okay, I'm not a customer of your bank, I walk in and cash a cashier's check for $5,000 and buy another cashier's check for $5,000 and you give it to me and I send that to someone as payment for something. The check I send them is "good" and clears the system. Two days after that, the cashier's check I cashed to purchase the "good" cashier's check turns up counterfeit and you didn't catch it til now. Then what? Who's liable? The person that received the cashier's check that cleared the system and thought it was "good"? Well of course they are and they have to pay the money back, even though WaMU screwed up and took a counterfeit check in the first place. I think because I pushed the issue, this is why I got "disconnected".
So, what do you think? We know for a fact that 1) the check actually was issued for the exact amount; 2) it has cleared the system; 3) the guy hasn't called us to say that his great uncle thrice removed has died and can we WU the money back to him; but then, 1) the guy used the TDY system; 2) he will only give my husband a P.O. Box to mail the title to even though my husband is insisting on a physical address to FedEX the check to; 3) to his detriment, he has poor English writing skills.
We don't know: What actually funded the check to begin with? Could it be counterfeit? Will it come back to bite us in the a$$?
I've told my husband to string this guy out for several more days by telling him the check hasn't cleared. I want to give it til at least next Monday which will be 7 working days before mailing the title. Then, after he mails the title, the guy sends the transport company to get the car which will buy us another 2 days. Should we trust it?
Sorry this is so long. It just totally pi$$es us off that we have to be so leary because of all of those out there who want to rip us legit people off. Like my husband said, it makes us look bad if this guy really is legit and we keep putting him off. My husband even went so far as to look up the DMV laws in Florida to see what the requirements were to drive a car if you were deaf, you only need an outside mirror on both sides.
Paranoid, yes. Smarter, he!! yes. Sad situation, yes.
Let me know your thoughts group.