Woman trying to sell items online gets fake check, warns others

"We were selling a bed and a dresser and a pool table."

Krystina Akins had never used craigslist, but her daughter suggested she list her items on the popular online classified site. "It's a very easy site to get around," she says.

Before long. she got an email that made her pretty suspicious. "some guy telling me he would send me 1990 dollars for my water bed. But I was only asking 250 dollars," she tells me.

The emailer told her to keep some money and send him back 1700 dollars via western union. "And then a check for five thousand dollars came," Krystina tells me. " It wasn't even for 19 hundred, it was for five thousand."

She showed me the check and although it looks real, we both know it isn't. "Someone just doesn't send you a check for five thousand dollars for a twin waterbed," Krystina says. "And then go to all that trouble waiting for me to send them back like 4 thousand dollars in cash. Why would someone do that if it wasn't a scam?", she says.

The idea on all these scams is the same. Someone sends you a check, offers to let you keep a few hundred dollars for your trouble and asks you to send back the rest. The red flag is it's always something like Western Union, Money Orders or a cashiers check.

"I just knew this was too good to be true," Krystina says.

The check came Saturday, and as of Tuesday the scammer was still trying. The person had emailed Krystina, asking if they were trying to rip her off? She found that kind of funny, considering they were the ones trying to cheat her.

Akins doesn't necessarily blame craigslist. she knows there are a lot of people with access to the site. she just wants honest people to be careful. "So maybe if they're aware this is going on because so many people are posting on Craigslist that I'm sure I got a check. My daughter got a check, she shredded hers, but if both of us in one family have received it you know a lot of people are receiving them."

Craigslist also advises those who use the site to be aware, suggesting they deal only with people they can meet in person. The craigslist website also advises "never wire funds via Wster Union, Moneygram or any other wire service- anyone who asks you to do so is a scammer."

Krystina says with current economic conditions, people may want to believe they're going to make a few quick bucks. "'m just concerned. I know enough not to cash the check but what about all the people who don't know," she tells me. "You know it's xmas time somebody's going to cash the checks and they'ree going to be in trouble in January when their bank wants the money back."