I have just became knowledgeable about Internet scams.  I have been trying to sell a few items through craigslist because I need the money for medical bills.  I started listing stuff on craigslist last September.  I have not sold one item but I could have been scammed 25 different times by 25 different people.  I have received cashiers checks, company checks, money orders, and  money grams and every one was a fake.  I have about $35,000.00 in bad checks.  I don't regret it, because of my experience I am able to write about it. I am grateful that I was smart enough not to let myself be scammed by these loser's out there.  In the beginning, I was excited because I really thought I was going to sell and make money.  As the first check came in and it was 7 times more then the amount I was asking, I wanted $500.00 and the check I received was for $3,000.00.  That check did not feel right. Honest people would not send a check for more then the purchase price. The buyer claimed that the reason why he sent me $3,000.00 instead of $500.00 was because I was to send $2500.00 in cash to his shipping agent through western union.  The buyer did not want me to wait until the check cleared, he wanted me to use my own money to send and then when his check cleared, I was to keep it all. He was even giving me an extra $100.00 for any inconvenience this may have caused.  Now, it diffenetly seemed weird, so I was not sending any money to anyone until my bank told me the check cleared and the funds were available. Every day that passed, the buyer would send me an email looking for his cash.  When I would email him back telling him that I am still waiting for the check to clear, he would become upset and then start to tell me I was scamming him and he was going to notify the police and the FBI.  I then emailed back telling him to go ahead to call who ever he wanted to call because I wasn't sending out any monies until I had a cleared check.  Well, imagine having 25-30 of these types of buyers that your dealing with everyday.  In the beginning I was having fun, then after about 1-1/2 months of lies from these buyers I became discouraged because of all the dishonest people out there, it wasn't fun anymore.  These buyers were not all men, some were women and the women were better liars then the men.  Because they were women they thought there scam would work on me.  Because of this Internet scam that is happening everyday, I learned how to tell the difference between a fake money orders and a real ones.  The same with a money gram, I learned how to tell the difference.  The money order has a picture of a president inside a white circle when you hold it up to the light and long side the picture is a black strip that would also show up when holding to the light and when I would do this to the money orders, no picture or black strip was there.  The money gram has a small white circle at the bottom next to the signature line and if it is real the white circle will disappear if you rubbed it with your finger, which it did not do( I learned that from the currency exchange). If you are  unsure of the money order or money gram, take it to the currency and they will tell you if it is real.  Don't waste your time taking it to the bank because the bank will take about 3-4 weeks before you will be notified that they are no good.  By the time you find out they are no good, it's to late.  Never take cashiers checks because they take along time to clear the banks and they are easily  made from any printer.  The paper that is used to make the cashier checks and regular checks comes from office supply stores.  My advise to everyone that is selling items on the Internet, only accept cash, pay-pal or have the buyer wire the money to you through western union.  After all, if they can send you a money order, cashiers check, money gram or any other form of payment then they should be able to send the money in a different form, cash, unless the paper money is no good.   Since I have requested only cash or pay-pal, no one seems to be buying any of my things.  Please be aware and be careful of all the scams out there and I hope I was able to educate the sellers from getting scammed. If I helped one person, this message was well worth writing.