You have to think like a scammer

The scam you laid out is pretty crafty, I feel sorry for those that have been had I'm sure it hurts in more ways than one. Having been the reciepient of many bad checks and broken promises I am weary of any tranaction that doesn't involve a proven source. If you think the check is bad or bogus in some way go to one of those "simply cash" or check cashing service first and give them the $10 or so to take the responsibility for cashing it. If that women in your story had just a little more apprehention and some larceny in her blood she would have been $2,900.00 richer. Of course a nigerian cashiers check may raise more than one red flag. I recently did some work for a couple and started to get the inkling they may be overextended when I was knee deep in their job. There is a whole pattern of things that give you that sinking feeling you are about to be screwed in that situation. I have several safegaurds in place that keep me from getting hurt to bad but none of them are as good as getting paid on schedule. After several attempts at collection I recieved a post dated check with several warnings about when and where to take it to the bank. Obviously the check was just a means to get me to leave them alone temporarily. As you might have guessed it bounced, but not quite high enough. I was telling a freind who happens to be branch manager of a bank and he quickly asked if I considered making a small deposit in the account. The thought of giving them money after all this seemed out of the question but he pointed out many bounced checks are reeturned for relatively small overdrafts. As the chances of a lengthy and expensive collection process loomed I thought I would give it a try. A 200.00 deposit in their account at 9:30 AM and a return trip to their bank at 2:00 and their check was good. I know it was a gamble but in the end it was a cheap collection. I guess the customer was doing this intentionaly because he called and left an irate message on my machine about not following his instructions regarding his check and expressed some surprise that I was able to cash it. Thats one job I don't have to worry about the customer service work on and that more than makes up for the 200. I guess the big lesson here was my friend the bank manager thinks like a scammer, A little scary if you bank there.