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AMERICAN FORK — Sarah Larsen turned to the Internet to reduce her pricey collection of shoes from three pairs to two. The shoes she put up for sale online were a pair of stilettos her husband bought for $900.
"My husband bought them for me for our 10-year anniversary," Larsen said.
She asked $675 for the used stilettos. A man named Daniel sent her a check for more than $1,300 above her asking price.
"(A check for) $1,980.50. Why would you send someone so much money?" she asked. "I'm a big believer in listening to your gut, and those red flags were popping…popping…popping."
One red flag was the address on the shipping envelope did not match the address on the check; one address was in Hawaii, while the other was in California.
Another red flag was the check itself.
"It looks like a generically-printed check," said Larsen. "It doesn't look legit to me."
She called the bank.
"They said it's missing one number," said Larsen.
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Had Larsen followed the instructions Daniel texted to her and wired the extra money to his shipper, she would have been out hundreds of dollars when the check was returned to her bank as fraudulent.
"I texted him and said, 'You and I both know this is a scam,'" she said. "'I can't believe you would do this.'"
That apparently encouraged Daniel to step up his game. Larsen said the next day he texted her and asked if she had a printer and a computer at home. He wanted her to print phony checks.
"He said if I could do that, we could go into business together and make lots of money doing it," she said. "I was, like, 'You've got to be kidding me.'"
In the end, Larsen gave Daniel the boot.
Here are three things people should know about this scam: The buyer could be spoofing the phone number to make it seem like they're contacting you from within the United States, when they're really out of the country; be suspicious of phone numbers that only accept text messages and not a phone call; any online transaction that requires a seller to wire money to a buyer is a red flag.
