Chances are it is a fake money order, especially if it was sent in advance of you agreeing to sell to this person and it is a significant overpayment. The way this scam works is people deposit the money order/cashiers check then withdraw the excess to send before the check has cleared the banks. When it fails to clear you have lost not only the payment for your goods but the "excess" and likely returned check fees. The best way to deal with this is to have your bank verify the authenticity and then wait before it clears before shipping or refunding the excess. If the excess is large, simply return the money order to the sender and tell them you will not deal with the excess, they need to.
This # usually will contact you in regard to a posting you may have put on craigslist, for an item you are wanting to sell. He, she or it will either try to get you to give your info for a Pay-Pal acct. & than contact you, saying the $$$ is in your acct. but to release it, you must help pay for shipping. Which, of course, you will be instucted to "WIRE IT"....Guess what? Your $$$ is history.
Or will send you a M.O. over the amnt. and have you wire the difference......Guess what, AGAIN?
I mess with them and have them go through the motion of making up the bogus M.O. or Cashier's Check. Let 'em send it & when you get it, tell 'em your bank instructed you to not do anything for 10 business days, until it cashes.
I got a text from this same number. I'm selling something on craigslist. They are sending me a money order for the over amount (said his assistant made the error) and wants me to send the difference via western union to an orphanage in Porto Novo and in the Benin Republic. What would happen if I tried to cash the check?
Chances are it is a fake money order, especially if it was sent in advance of you agreeing to sell to this person and it is a significant overpayment. The way this scam works is people deposit the money order/cashiers check then withdraw the excess to send before the check has cleared the banks. When it fails to clear you have lost not only the payment for your goods but the "excess" and likely returned check fees. The best way to deal with this is to have your bank verify the authenticity and then wait before it clears before shipping or refunding the excess. If the excess is large, simply return the money order to the sender and tell them you will not deal with the excess, they need to.