Posted Room for Rent/All responses from out of country offerinf cashiers checks. Are these scams?

Question

I posted a room for rent on craigslist. All the responses are from people from out of the country. I really need to get this room rented,but I am afraid that they are trying to scam me. Does anyone remember the Nigerian scam with cashiers checks? That's what all these responses seem like to me. What should I do?

Answer 1

Nobody rents a room without looking at it first, so these are obvious scams. Just ignore them.

There are many variations to this scam. Most likely what will happen is the check will clear. They will say they overpayed you and ask you to send some money back. Then later, the check will bounce. Checks can still bounce even after they have "cleared." The bank will tell you that you owe them money for the bounced check. You will complain saying: "But you said it had cleared." The bank will say too bad, when a check "clears" it does not mean it is good.

Below is one example of this type of scam.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/31/AR2006053102004.html

Answer 2

the scams all work by fooling you into thinking their funds are 'good as gold' and getting you to send 'excess funds' somewhere. Never do business with 'excess funds'.

It is not terribly likely that a Cashier's Check made out to you for the exact amount required will be a forgery as you aren't going to send any money back to anyone for months. You can also ask at your bank about other types of remittances that are possible. [Foreign drafts, for example, would be written on a bank in your country and, as long as there's a branch of that bank nearby, the authorized signature and serial number can be verified there before depositing the draft.]

If you don't have months, then I suggest you make a deal with your banking firm to accept credit cards. And always look at and xerox the other IDs any legitimate out of country person has [a passport, most likely].


GL [ex-banker]

Answer 3

when i doubt don't! your room can eventually rent your peace of mind would be harder to retrieve once you have made the commitment.