A dream job turns into a nightmare
Recently, I applied for what I thought was a job as a secret shopper. I was "approved" and sent a package detailing the assignment.

I was told to take the $1,500 check enclosed, deposit it in my bank account, draw out $1,300 and send a wire transfer to someone with a different first name, but my last name. I almost fell for this scam, but after depositing the check and getting the $1,500 from my account, I didn't trust it.

I went home and tried to find information about the company on the Internet. No information at all. Luckily for me the only damage I will sustain will be the bank charge of $10 for the bad check. I consider myself very lucky.

The thieves who scooted
I was trying to sell my scooter and got a fraudulent check. This is what happened: The buyer was a purchasing agent for a gentleman in another country. The gentleman would be sending me a check for the price of the bike and the money to send to the freight company for a total of $13,000. He asked that I forward the funds to the freight company and then they would pick up the bike. The scam, of course, was to have me send the $7,000 to the freight company, which was some pickup destination for them, before the bad check cleared. They would have the money in their pockets and be long gone before we knew the check was bad.

Unfortunately, neither the bank, nor other officials ever followed up to try and track them down. But the bank did have the nerve to charge me a bad check fee even though we told them we suspected the check was bad.

Scary auction hijinks
Somebody stole my Full Moon Sales site ID and decided to use it to list a motorcycle for sale. I only found out about it after I began to receive inquiries about the motorcycle specs! If somebody was dumb enough to have actually purchased it, the crooked seller would have arranged a way to have the payment sent directly to him, and then I would be legally responsible for delivering a motorcycle that I don't have!