Santa Monica Police Detectives have been conducting several grand theft/fraudulent checks investigations involving subjects using E-Bay.  E-Bay is an online site where you can buy and sell merchandise on the Internet.  

Apparently, the suspects are purchasing items on the Internet and sending a fraudulent cashier check to the sellers.  The fraudulent cashier checks are paid at a higher amount and the buyer then asks the seller to cash the check and send the merchandise with the overpayment.  In one incident, the suspect bought a computer from victim for $500 and the suspect sent the victim a check for $4,000.  The suspect asked the victim to cash the fraudulent check and send the $3,500 overpayment to a location in Nigeria.  Unfortunately, the cashier’s check was fraudulent and the victim suffered the loss.

Generally, the buyer claims to live outside of the United States, i.e. Nigeria. The buyer then claims that he has someone in the United States who owes him money, i.e. $4,000.00. The buyer says he will have this 3^rd party send the seller a cashier’s check for $4,000.00. The seller is to then cash the check and deduct monies owed to him for the item being sold and the cost of shipping, i.e. $1,500.00. The seller is then instructed to mail the sold item to an address and to send the remaining money, in this case $2,500.00, via Western Union to the buyer. Many times the fact that the cashier’s check is fraudulent is not discovered until days after the seller has wired the money and mailed off the sold item. 

The Santa Monica Police Department strongly encourages anyone using any type of online auction site to be cautious when receiving a cashier check from buyer located outside the United States

Anyone with information is encouraged to call the Santa Monica Police Department at 310-458-8491 or Detective Maury Sumlin at 310-458-8437.  Callers who wish to provide anonymous information may also call the We-Tip national hotline at 1-800-78-CRIME (27463).   Callers with information that leads to an arrest and conviction become eligible for a reward of up to $1,000.