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I got this same email from Valeria Jones (which we know that's not really who this person is) last Sunday. They were responding to my Craigslist ad about my living room furniture set that I was selling. Unfortunately, I was not aware of this scam and have never tried to sell anything on Craigslist, so I got as far as depositing the check they sent me. I'm beyond mad at myself for not being more careful about this. I had a gut feeling from the beginning that this was a little sketchy, but I've got so much other stuff going on right now that I let my guard down with this one. Anyway, I alerted my bank that the check was probably counterfeit (which they looked into and verified that it was) and they're handling it on their end. However, this person is REALLY mad that their scam fell through and have been harassing me with nasty emails.....even threatening me in one of them.They've also been calling my cellphone from a private number and leaving voicemail's (the person calling claims to be Valeria's husband....very thick Nigerian accent). So I filed a report with the police and reported the incident to the FTC and FBI. I really am mad at myself for even falling for this.....I'm usually an overly cautious person. Thankfully my gut instinct took over in the end and I didn't fall for the scam and lose my hard earned money. These people are the scum of the earth....literally.

Hi Billy, I too received a check in the mail with the same description (the secretary sent too much $).  Did you try to cash/deposit it?  If so, did you attempt to send the remainder to the 'moving company'?  I am curious what the 'net gain' of the scam here is...

I took the check to my bank and told them I thought it was counterfeit, so the Asst. Manager and I sat down and called the bank telephone number on the check to verify the account number on check. The bank account number didn't exist anywhere in their system, so the check was indeed counterfeit. What I learned about this scam is if I had deposited the money, it would have been put into my bank initially but would have eventually been returned and the bank would have to take that money back out of my account. If I had sent these scum bags that money, I would have been out $2,810 of my own money since the check was fake to begin with.

so glad i found this message board - i am selling a couch set on CL, chicago & was so excited i got a response right away... when i got this email, i became suspicious:

Thank you for the response, I will be sending a Certified Draft which
is generally acceptable to cover the cost  as am completely
interested. I will need the details below of whom & where to mail the
payment;

1.Name to be on the check
2.Home or office address
3.Cellphone number

Please note FedEx do not deliver to P.O Box. However, my mover will
pick up the item right after the payment as been delivered. Kindly
delete the posting as am committed to buying it. I recently move here
on a job transfer and it's a great buy. Here is my relay #
(832)390-0679  am hearing  impaired and will receive your phone
messages via email. Hope to read from you shortly.

Best regards
Paul


beware this guys email: ANNABELLA : ocorchado@gmail.com or lolzzzx21@gmail.com or annabellakbov@gmail.com - all 3 of these emails came up with only 2 emails sent to/from.

Man! I'm so glad I didn't get scammed!!!
THANKS  ALL!!!

from    Mary smith philipjohn466@gmail.com
reply-to    m13drop@gmail.com

date    Mon, Jun 20, 2011 at 6:35 PM

    
Thanks for the response, i will send a certified draft which is
generally acceptable to cover the cost  as am completely satisfied
with it.I will need the details of whom & where to mail the payment
1.Name to be on the check
2.Home address
3.Mobile phone number
Please note United Parcel Service do not deliver to P.O Box.My mover
will pick up right after the payment as been delivered.Kindly delete
the posting as am committed to buying it.I recently move here on a job
transfer and it's a great buy.Here is my relay # 832-390-0679 am
hearing  impaired and will receive your phone messages via email

Cannot believe that there are 16 pages of similar stories. What has this world come to? Got the same message from a Henry Thomas using the address eldridge.ben1@gmail.com while selling my flute on Craigslist, St. Louis. Just got the check today via FedEx and luckily I Googled the issuing bank, Local Federal Credit Union in Dalls, TX. I called them and they verified that it was fraudulent. My flute was listed for $500 and he sent me $2320, the remainder of which I was supposed to Western Union to a Lois R. Alvarez in Des Plaines, IL. My brother and sister-in-law are both local Sheriff's Deputies and they told me that since I didn't cash the check or relinquish the property, no real crime had been committed and I had no legal recourse. If these folks spent half the time working in the real world as they do devising scams, they would be incredibly well-off...what a waste...glad the bells went off and it didn't go any further.

Another email used is hnrthms5@gmail.com - fyi.  Selling an item on Craigslist - Dallas and this was the initial email used to contact me.  
The reply was from Mr Henry Thomas <eldridge.ben1@gmail.com>

I'm so glad that I read this, because I am having the same problem to...I knew in my gut that these had to be some scam artist...the money that they were talking about was to good to be true, a lady (by the name of Marie, from Austraila) offered me a driver job that was paying well. And I would even have a car to drive them in, well she said that I would have gotten a check for $2246, and I would have had to send the rest to some travel agent via western union, I'm so glad that I did research because I didn't even talk with this f**k over the phone...I'm pretty sure if I would have taken the the check to the bank I would have been out of alot of money that I don't have....beware scam artist!!!!

Scammer Email Addresses of mike.garry18@gmail.com and collins.mike02@gmail.com tried to scam me too. Same email on July 7th, 2011 for State College, Pa Craig list.

Hi,
Thanks for the quick respond,  I want you to consider it sold to me,
please do withdraw the advert from CL to avoid disturbance,
anyway I don't have time to come over to take a look because of my
Business but you don't need to bother yourself with the its condition
and with the  shipment, I'll
take care of that by engaging the services of a mover, hence I'll be
sending a certified check payment and it will be delivered to you via UPS,
so I'll need you to provide me with the following
information to facilitate the mailing of the check.

1.full name on the check.

2.Full Physical address to post the check

3.City, State and Zip Code

4.Home & Cell Phone to contact you.

Note that the payment will be shipped to your address via UPS NEXT DAY
SERVICE and I will like you to know that you will not be
responsible for shipping i will have my mover to come over as soon as
you have cashed the check.

--
Hope the item still available?

Same thing happened to me on Craigslist. Watch out for the email address: annabellakbov@gmail.com

The name associated with the e-mail is ANNA BELLA. Once I realized what they were doing with the Certified check/ money transfer setup, I just stopped e-mailing. After 2 days this person was persistent enough to e-mail me again asking why I havnt contacted them back in order to confirm that I would "handle everything with the utmost care." I thought by not responding it would lead them to believe I knew it was a craigslist scam, but I guess not.
It is obvious to me now that these guys are not being caught or prosecuted since it happens SO often. Has anyone ever been successful in turning these guys in or taking some sort of action?  I know it would be difficult since I am sure there are hundreds of these each day and they are more than likely in a different country but it seems crazy to not be able to do anything about it. Any advice? stories?

FYI, they first responded to the craigslist add on July 14th 2011. I just received another e-mail today on July 20th, 2011

Also be on look out for Cara White   cwwhiteenterprises@gmail.com  posting employment ads  and then the bs .  They picked the wrong guy this time

Uses Cara White  cwwhiteenterprises@g mail .com also   posting employment ads. They picked the wrong guy this time and I will have a field day bringing down their dumb most likely nigerian [***]

Be on the lookout for cara white  using cwwhiteenterprises@gmail.com  The clowns are also posting employment offers   ps also sending fake tracking numbers on a website {usps} do not use link  the clowns provide but go to real USPS site to confirm they are full of [***]   They use The Lois Alvarez alias for  western union transfers    Lets shut these [***] down for good

Talk about a scam!!! I suspected something was amiss the moment the writer mentioned a "certified draft". His/her English left a lot to be desired. I answered by e-mail and even left him/her a message. But then a friend of mine confirmed my suspicions and here I am.

Raoul

Talk about a scam!!! I suspected something was amiss the moment the writer mentioned a "certified draft". His/her English left a lot to be desired. I answered by e-mail and even left him/her a message. But then a friend of mine confirmed my suspicions and here I am.

Raoul

Yeahhh I almost fell for it. I'm glad you all have posted these things. I am selling our chair and ottoman and got almost the exact same reply about mailing a check and blah blah blah..my response was that I had to validate the payment before letting the chair leave. And that's when I found this site. Thank goodness!!

I did the same thing, i almost sold my motors....but i used the email on facebook to see if it was a real person..and all the sites on fraud showed up..i'm glad i actually checked it:D

I also had a run in with this alleged person. They used fake PayPal e-mails to lure me in. I shipped the item to a :  Michael Damon
                1559 Central PKWY
                 DeLand Fl. 32724

I am contacting the police and hopefully something good will come of this.

I got the same message from this person, but the name they used was Anna Bella (annabellakbov@gmail.com). The relay # they gave was 832-390-0679.  I realized it was a scam and then typed in that phone number in google just to check and voila...found all these replies.  These scammers really make me angry!