I need help I don't know if I've been scammed?

I have been emailing this lady for about 10 days now and she was wanting my stuff I agreed to a via check and she was suppose to send it to me over a week ago and she just told me on monday that she was sending it in the mail. This is one if the messages that she wrote me and there's many more like this. I dont understand nor want to get scammed. If you need her email or anything else please let me know so I understand what to do? thanks

Hello,,just to let you know that the shipping fee will include in the check and as soon as you received the check and the check cleared in your bank account you will need to deduct the total amount of your money and have the shipping fee sent to shipper's address that will be given to you later on.
Get back to me as well.
Thanks.

That's all I need to see to tell you that it is a scam. In reality, the cheque is a fake; your bank won't pick up on it for months and when they do, you would be liable for the whole amount. If anyone ever tells you to cash a cheque, and forward money on, then it is a scam.

Please cease all contact with her. If you receive a cheque, you can either hand it in to the relevant authority (that depends where you live, if you post your country, we can tell you more), destroy it, or write FAKE on it and keep it as a trophy.

I'm not quite sure on the specifics of this scam (fake cheques can be working into many scam formats), so could you please post the initial emails you exchanged (remove your details) and any info you have on this lady.

Well done on recognising that this wasn't kosher. Please post any questions you have regarding this scam, or any other.

regards,
Newdonym

ABOUT THE ITEM POSTED ON CRAIGLISTMonday, June 1, 2009 4:25 PM
From: This sender is DomainKeys verified"sarah mar" <[email protected]>Add sender to ContactsTo: undisclosed-recipients
Dear seller,
How are you and how is buiness doing over there, i saw your item listed for sale on CRAIGLIST and would really love to buy for the urgent use so pls get back to me with your full name and contact address with mobile phone number so as to send payment as i will be sending payment via CHEQUE, and would arrange for pick up as soon as the funds is been cleared.
Hope to hear from you today as the item is urgently needed.
Regards

Hello,

Thanks for the mail.Ok, i will be making the payment via cheque and pick up will be taken place after the cheque might have been cleared in your hand.

Therefore, kindly get back to me with total cost of the item and your full name,contact address with your mobile phone number for the easy communication.

Get back to me today so that the cheque can be issue out.

Thanks.
HE PAYMENT AND SHIPPINGThursday, June 4, 2009 4:16 PM
From: This sender is DomainKeys verified"sarah mar" <[email protected]>Add sender to ContactsTo: undisclosed-recipients
Hello,,just to let you know that the shipping fee will include in the check and as soon as you received the check and the check cleared in your bank account you will need to deduct the total amount of your money and have the shipping fee sent to shipper's address that will be given to you later on.
Get back to me as well.
Thanks.

Hello,sorry for the late payment due to little illness,i just want you to confirm your address as the payment will be mail out first thing tomorrow mornig (Monday).
Get back to me asap now so that i can be mailed out tomorrow and probably you will receive the payment on Wednesday this week.
Thanks.

Thanks for the mail.Am not in the town and item need where i am now that is the reason the check issued and the pick up included and the payment as already on the way and itincluded the shipper's fee in which you will need to deduct the total amount of your money as soon as the check received and cleared in your bank account and have the shipper's fee sent to the information that will be given to you later on.

Get back to me as soon as you read this mail.

Thanks.
THAT IS THE LAST ONE I GOT FROM HER

Hi Chestylarou,

We've been in touch via email so I know that you now understand about this scam.

Together we've checked an IP address for this scammer. For the benefit of others reading this, I'll include here that it is 62.173.49.28 which resolves to Nigeria. This is a classic overpayment scam with the scammer sending you a fraudulent check and asking you to send the difference on to the "shipper" who is in reality the same scammer using a different name.

Thanks for posting more of the information. Good luck to you.

Hi, chestylarou, and welcome to Scamwarners!

Just a few pointers to spot a Craigslist scammer:

To: undisclosed-recipients

This means that the same email was sent in bulk to a lot of Craigslist advertisers, with the emails in the BCC field.

i saw your item listed for sale

The email does not mention the item by name - just generic "your item."

The English is very bad, and the grammar, syntax, and spelling are indicative of West Africa.

Of course you know that now, but those are signs to look for in further contacts if you continue to sell things on Craigslist.

Hi Chesty

Another scam that you should be mindful of if you use online auctions is where the buyer wants you to send the item to Nigeria, they will tell you they will pay by paypal and include enough money for shipping, they will then send a fake paypal payment notification and insist a computer glitch has prevented it from showing in your account.

I woked on one scammer who did this with Ebay and even sent emails pretending to be from ebay and insiting that you need to send the item or Ebay will take action

If you ever have the slightest doubt about anybody online, feel free to call back and ask

This page here gives sound advice;

http://reviews.ebay.co.uk/SCAM-WARNINGS_W0QQugidZ10000000001900192

For the Buyers

1. Read all the advert as a BOX usually means just the BOX.
2. Especially read the last paragraphs or any small print carefully as you could be buying just a picture
3. View any advert without technical information suspiciously as this may mean you are not looking at what you think you are.
4. Research what you are looking for elsewhere and read review sites as they will be more inclined to be truthful.
5. Do not deal with any seller who requests you to send to a different address from that listed on eBay.
6. Messages in auctions like BEFORE BIDDING CONTACT ME means they want to sell outside of eBay and usually means a request for money transfer and no goods. This is often the strategy used by hijackers of bone fide eBay accounts
7. Always use the ASK Seller eBay link to communicate with sellers as this is recorded and will be sent directly to them.
8. Never answer emails purporting to be eBay Customer Rep asking to confirm address as eBay already know it and do not use anything other than an eBay authorised address. If unsure about a response address simply put it in Google to see who they really are.
9. Asking to go to another website are usually scams to get you to click on them and they get paid per click.
10. Check feedback comments correspond to actual items sold.
11. Treat with suspicion any similar comments such as, not available retail, contact via email address.
12. Do not trust adverts where the location of seller and goods do not match.
13. Be wary of sellers who dont have a track record for selling lots of similar items.

For the Sellers

1. Be very wary of requests to ship items to relatives in other countries, especially Africa, put SCAM EBAY NIGERIA into Google and see for yourself. These are usually followed up with fake Paypal emails, often with spelling mistakes in them.
2. Be wary of requests to end auctions early for bigger payments.
3. Recognise fake Paypal Payment emails with delivery addresses, especially for items where the auctions not ended.
4. View with suspicion and don’t ship on any BUY IT NOW offers that have ended without payment within a day. There is no reason why the buyer would not pay for it then, even taking time zones into account, one day should be viewed as the maximum.
5. Do not accept Cashiers Cheques from Nigeria, they can clear only to be found fake when drawn against the issuing bank.
6. Ignore any Paypal email claiming that once item was shipped and the tracking number sent to buyer the funds would be released. Its a scam.
7. International buyers of items listed as NO INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING.
8. Always check your Paypal account rather than believe any emails purporting to be from Paypal.
9. Never proceed with sales after you receive an email from Paypal verifying a buyer, its a fake they dont do that.
10. Bad spelling and poor grammer on emails confirming payment or information from either eBay or Paypal will be fakes.

Thanks for all your help I really appreciate it. I will be more careful guess you can't trust people these days.

The vast majority of people out there are honest, the problem it knowing who is.

There are a few simple rules you can follow to stay reasonably safe

If it sound too good to be true, it wont be true
If you have any doubt, check it out
Be suspicious of anybody who you you are sending pesonal inforrmation, money or goods to
Learn the signs of a scam, they are usually obvious when you know what to look for
Tell your family and friends about your experience, they may just be saved from being scammed simply by knowing a little about it