I received a £3000 cheque, which ended up in police investigation.

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I just wanted to share this with my friends on here, to warn people in case they fall foul of a similar scam. Last year I was selling children's clothes and was trying to shift end of season stock as a bulk buy. I advertised them on various classified sites, as a bulk lot for £450. One person sent me an email saying that they were interested in the clothes, as they were sending them on to an orphanage. They seemed genuine and were in contact alot, as we tried to clinch the deal. At first they said they had sent the cheque which was coming to me from outside the UK. She then kept emailing me asking me if I had received the cheque yet. Through these communications via email, she gave me a phone number of someone in the UK who worked for her, and said to send the clothes to him when the cheque was here and cleared. I gave out my phone number too, to help communication. After about 3 weeks, she was getting edgy and kept emailing with excuses for the cheque not reaching me. By this time I was getting a bit fed up as I had other people interested in the clothes, but couldn't get them out of the house. After about a month I came home from work to find a cheque which was for £3000, in my name, and it was a business cheque. The bank head office came from the same area as the contact in the UK. I stood for ages gobsmacked and couldn't take it in. I checked my email, in case I had won in a competition or something, as the business name was a well know travel co. In the end I got a phonecall from the guy in the UK, asking if I had received the cheque yet. I said no, as I was expecting the £430 not £3000. I banked the cheque the following day, and the bank accepted it with no questions and carried on waiting for the cheque due. After 7 days I had a letter from the bank to say the cheque was stolen and it was under investigation from their fraud dept. I had to also report it to the police so they could check all the emails etc. It was from the person wanting the clothes. The police advised me to wait for another call and say I had received a cheque but not for the amount I requested which I did. He said it was supposed to be a £3000 cheque and I was to send the clothes to him, and the remainder, by cheque to the person who originally contacted me. It was a long and slow process and a few more calls where I had to lie, under the police advice, before it was sorted out. The result was my dreams shattered when I realised I didn't really have £3000 to spend, and I still had boxes of clothes to get rid of. I am sorry for the long story here, but just wanted to make others aware, as the police adviced me that a few days earlier and it could have cleared as it had taken a while for the cheque book to be reported stolen. If it had cleared (and I was gullible enough) then I could have sent out the clothes, and the £2500 and been seriously out of pocket once it was unveiled. Plus the money wouldn't have existed so I would have sent the clothes for nothing. Please don't ever ever fall for this scam. I was told that only a few weeks before someone else had got scammed over a £130 buggy, where they had received a cheque for £200. Smaller scale, but they ended up out of pocket and losing the buggy. Be aware! If you are selling anything then only send out an item once a cheque has fully cleared and not before, and if it is for a higher amount than it should be then do not cash it, and report it instead. If everyone is aware then hopefully crooks like this will no longer be able to get away with such scams.