Toadfrogs

A Little Banking Lesson

I learned two things today: 1.) A check hasn’t really cleared the bank when it appears in your account. I have only had issues with larger checks, which are not deposited in your bank until they do clear the bank. Smaller checks appear in your account and then are taken away (with a charge) if the check bounces. 2.) I am a little too trusting.

I recently tried to sell my old washer and dryer on the craigs list. A man contacted me about buying them. He explained he worked for the military and had recently been transferred. The government was paying to move his possessions and he wanted to buy the washer and dryer, which they would pay to move. He sent me a check for the price of the washer and dryer and the cost of shipping. He asked me to get the shipping money to the shippers. He even instructed me to wait till the check cleared my bank.

He obviously knew more about banking procedure than I did. Thank goodness I procrastinated in taking care of all this and the bank contacted me about the counterfeit check before the money was received by the “shippers”. I can’t believe how close I came to falling for the scam. I am selling the washer and dryer again, but this time I am only doing face to face with a cash payment.

The funniest part of this whole thing is the man’s emails. After I realized what had happened, I emailed him and said, “You are a bad, bad man. I am disappointed.” He actually wrote back acting very confused.

Then he wrote a second email telling me that the shippers had the money (not true) and would be picking up the washer and dryer the next day. I was tempted to email him back and act confused when they didn’t show up, but I didn’t.

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