4/26    Most spams/frauds are easy to spot, but what if someone from Africa
        wrote you with professing interest in buying stuff that your biz
        advertises?  Should one discount everything from Africa?
        \_ Has anyone ever actually replied to one of those spam emails
           asking for help transferring funds?  What happens when you contact
           them?  Do they then ask you for some money?
           \_ there are actually whole websites devoted to this topic. there
              are pictures of these people posing with the nigerians too.
              stfw for 419 related stuff.
           \_ http://419eaters.com is my favorite.
        \_ I would personally not take the risk, since it is probably 90%
           likely to be a scam. But if you do decide to do business with
           an unsolicited customer from overseas, make sure you have cash
           in hand before sending merchandise. Not a cashiers check, either.
           \_ Seconded.  You could also use an escrow agent.
              \_ Use http://www.escrow.com I was ripped off by a phoney escrow
                 agent that a seller suggested to me.
           \_ What's wrong with a cashier's check?
              \_ They can be faked.  Even if your bank puts the money in your
                 account, then can still take it back if the check comes back
                 phoney.
                 \_ Damn!  I didn't believe this, googled a bit.  That's pretty
                    depressing, so many gotchas out there... *sigh*
                    http://www.craigslist.org/about/scams.html  So is there any
                    way to quickly check whether a cashier's check is valid or
                    not?  Why can't this be immediate?
                 \_ Did you hear about the guy who got $100K in cash from
                    a phony check?
                    \_ Yeah! And then she dried her dog off in the microwave
                       oven and he exploded and turned into an alien and ate
                       her spine!
                       \_ Uhm, it's actually a pretty well documented story.
                 \_ I always thought cashier's check is as good as cash, and
                    that when I send out one I always assumed it's gone.
                    Guess regulations are always designed so that only
                    criminals can take advantage of it.