selling on craiglist

I posted a fish tank for sale on Craiglist, I received a text message from James Douglas from Ohio phone number 406-290-9176 wanting to buy my tank and will be sending a cashier's check for the amount I was asking and the amount to ship the tank over to him, I sent my name and address, didn't know before about this "scam"s it was 5 days ago, I have not received any correspondence from that person nor check but now that I discovered it will for sure be a scam, I'm afraid of have given my name and address,which by the way I never do but was so in a hurry to sell the tank that didn't even think about fraud. What should I do? Please some help will be really appreciated

Hello and welcome to Scamwarners antiscam70,

You have nothing to worry about with your name and address. You may receive the fake check and receive further scam text. Just ignore the scam text.

If you receive the fake check do not deposit it. You can mark it as fake and save as a reminder or tear/rip then trash it. You could also be helpful and report it to the USPS. Cease all communication with the scammer. Leave him guessing why you have not responded.

File a fraud report with the postal inspection service. http://ehome.uspis.gov/fcsexternal/default.aspx You can also request an envelope from them and actually send them the check since you received it via US mail.

I'm not comfortable with suggesting keeping fake checks. Although perhaps good for laughters, I find it best to destroy them.

thank you both!! I just received the fake check, didn't even open it but was able to check the sender's address is completely fake, they sent it from Columbus, oh and the address is from oak lawn, Il, the sender is an apparent company banyards industries inc. , also fake (I was looking at the corporations registry and nothing about this corporation) but now I don't know what to do with the check, I don't want to throw it away or destroy it but for sure I won't keep it, I would like to know if there is any government agency here in US that handle these things, someone told me to take it to the bank and they will handle it but I'm afraid they will think I'm involved on this, the postal service, I'm not clear about it, can someone help, please?!!!

If you got it in the mail, take it with the envelope to the Postal Inspection Service, mentioned above. Your local post office should also know how to contact them.

I received the check, I was able to contact the company on the check Maynard's Industries, they were aware of the scam, they new the checks have been issued and their banks already are in charge, their rep told me to destroy the check or keep it that would be my decision, since there was no "crime" yet the police couldn't do anything about it. Definitively I don't understand how come there is not "crime" if just stealing, sending a fake check is already a crime.

I highly advise destroying the check.