Can I accept a cashiers check without risking being scammed?
I thought the check scam usually worked by someone sending a check for more than the purchase amount and asking for cash back, which the scammee trustingly sends before finding out the check is bad. Tell her you’ll ship the chair as soon as you feel confident the check is good. As sondrialiac said, work with your bank on that question.
The only thing you need to worry about is a forged check. This is true of both personal and cashiers. Cashier’s checks have the advantage of them not being able to bounce. Theyre typically used for large purchases. Not sure why you think this person is performing a scam. You have less protection with paypal which can take money out anytime it wants.
A cashier’s check is a check from a bank teller. I think this is a lot more secure than money orders, which are easier to forge and harder to validate. If you receive it and it appears to be drawn on a legitimate bank, you can simply call them to verify its authenticity. If it’s real, a cashier’s check is actually riskier for the buyer, not you. Once they’ve received it, the money is out of their account already. You could cash it and not send the goods. If she sent you a personal check, she could stop payment on it and you wouldn’t know until after you had sent the chair.
Ask your bank how long it usually takes for a bad cashier’s check to show up. Depending on the bank, they might tell you anything from a few days to a few weeks. Let the buyer know that you will hold the chair for that long. Or simply tell her tough luck, and you’ll be returning the check. If she’s older, she probably remembers a time when cashier’s checks were better than personal checks because they cleared immediately and were considered guaranteed–which might explain why she chose a cashier’s check instead of a personal check, or instead of paypal. Or she’s scamming you. As craigslist says, “DEAL LOCALLY WITH FOLKS YOU CAN MEET IN PERSON – follow this one simple rule and you will avoid 99% of the scam attempts on craigslist.
