Letter to the Editor: Didn’t Take the Bait on Buyer Scam

I recently advertised a boat for sale and was contacted immediately by a person who was very interested in buying. It turned out that the buyer was running a scam.

The buyer communicated solely by text and sent me a certified check via priority mail. In his last text, he stated that his secretary had “made a mistake” and had made the check out for an extra $6,450 dollars. He told me to keep the amount for the boat sale price and then send the extra $6,450 back to him.

I was very uncomfortable with this situation, so I asked him to cancel the check and send another with the correct sale amount. Since then, I have not heard back from him.  

I did receive the original check from him, and it looked like a legitimate check from PNC Bank. There is no PNC Bank in Door County, but we took it to our local PNC Bank in Illinois. They stated that the check was fraudulent.  

This was a situation right out of the movie Catch Me If You Can, and we feel fortunate that we didn’t take the bait.

Marty Olson

Fish Creek, Wisconsin