Buyer for my camper sent a cashier's check for $2,000 over the price and wants me to wire the difference to his shipper. Is this a scam?

#1jbrennan64(Joined Sep 2026 · 3 posts)September 24, 2026, 6:06 pm

Listed my old pop up camper online for $6,500. Guy messages within the hour, doesn't want to see it, doesn't want to haggle, says he's relocating for work and his shipping company will collect. Fine, I thought, easy sale.

Cashier's check arrives by FedEx today. For $8,500. Then a very apologetic message saying his assistant made an error and included the shipper's fee, could I deposit it and wire the extra $2,000 to the shipping company so they can schedule the pickup. He's sent the wiring details already. Real bank name on the check, looks absolutely legit, watermark and everything.

My wife says it stinks. I said the bank will tell us if the check's bad. Who's right? I haven't deposited it yet.

#2Walt F(Joined Jan 2026 · 17 posts)September 24, 2026, 7:41 pm

Your wife. Don't deposit it, and definitely don't wire anything. A buyer who overpays and asks you to send the difference to a third party is the whole scam in one sentence.

#3tomd52(Joined Jun 2025 · 20 posts)September 24, 2026, 10:10 pm

Doesn't want to see it, doesn't haggle, has a shipper, sends too much. That's four for four. Sorry mate.

#4Dana WhitakerFraud examiner(Joined Feb 2025 · 89 posts)September 25, 2026, 9:02 am

jbrennan64 said:

I said the bank will tell us if the check's bad.

Your wife is right, and the line I've quoted is the belief this scam relies on, so it's worth explaining why it doesn't hold.

When you deposit a check, your bank has to make the money available to you on a set timetable, often within a couple of business days. That is a timing rule. It is not the bank confirming the check is genuine. Finding out a check is counterfeit takes longer, sometimes weeks, and when it comes back, the bank reverses the whole deposit. By then the $2,000 you wired to the "shipper" has gone, and you owe the bank. Counterfeit cashier's checks are used precisely because people trust them more than personal checks, and the watermark and real bank name are part of the product.

The pattern you've described, a buyer who skips the viewing, overpays, and wants the difference sent on to a third party, is one of the most common forms of fake check fraud, and the site's guide to online shopping and marketplace scams covers it alongside the other selling-side tricks.

What to do now: don't deposit it, don't wire anything, stop replying to the buyer. If you want to confirm the check is fake, look up the issuing bank's number yourself, not the one printed on the check, and ask them. Keep the check, the envelope and the messages, and report it at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. And relist the camper. A real buyer will want to look at it.

#5jbrennan64(Joined Sep 2026 · 3 posts)September 26, 2026, 8:35 am

Called the bank named on the check from their website number. No such check number issued, and the woman on the phone said she gets "a few of these a week". The number printed on the check went to a voicemail that sounded very official.

Reported it. Told my wife she was right, which she has mentioned more than once since.

#6jbrennan64(Joined Sep 2026 · 3 posts)October 7, 2026, 5:52 pm

Closing the loop. Sold the camper Saturday to a couple who drove two hours, kicked the tires, haggled me down $300 and paid with a transfer from their own bank while standing in my driveway. Never been so happy to lose $300.