You might want to read this: http://www.bikeforums.net/...d&threadid=19022

I had some knucklehead from Lagos, Nigeria send me a check for almost 10,000.00 for a bike I had for sale on InsideOut Used Bike site. Of course, it was obvious that it was some sort of scam. The check was a forgery written on a school's account out in a western state. I took the check to the bank so that they could track everything down to the best of their ability, and we contacted the law enforcement authorities about it...they weren't interested. A month or so ago, an article in the local paper stated that many scams of this type were originating in Nigeria. It seems easy enough to catch the crooks, they want you to send the money via Western Union to a certain pickup spot, it could be set up as a sting to catch them, but it must not seem worth the trouble to the authorities...my bank talked to the FBI and CIA about it...they just weren't interested in pursuing it.

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Quid quid latine dictum sit altum videtur
(That which is said in Latin sounds profound)

Just another iteration of the Nigerian 417 scam which is apparently the nation's biggest export after oil. Lately they have been offering to send a certified check and prepay shipping in exchange for web vendors' products. They cancel the certified check and by the time the victim finds out it's too late. There is also apparently a variant using Western Union since there is a warning posted on the roadbikereview.com classifieds section about overseas buyers using that.

There was an interesting article in one of the UK papers last year that interviewed a teenager that had been promoted up the ranks because of his effective letter writing skills. His income estimates for his family alone were astounding even after government officials took their cuts.