By Debbie Raney
Burns Times-Herald

“Buyer beware.” The warning has been around for years and years, but as one Burns man found out, it is now just as astute to take heed to the warning “seller beware.”

On April 29, Ronald Jahns of Burns listed his 1967 Ford pickup for sale using craigslist, an online classified ads service. Within hours of putting the pickup on the Web site, he received his first response.

“I’m interested in getting this item purchased ASAP, but do you still have it available?” read the e-mail from someone going by the name of Kate. “Also, are you selling for the first time on craigslist, or you’ve made a couple of sales before? Let me know if it’s still up for sale.”

When Jahns let the supposed buyer know that the pickup was still available, the next e-mail he received read as follows: “I will be making the payment by money order, so once the money order is received and clears your bank, I will send my shipping company to come and pick it up at your place. OK? I would have come to see, but I am very busy with my son ‘coz’ he is ill.”

Arrangements were then made for money orders to be sent to Jahns. This is where the scam becomes evident.
Rather than sending the specific amount that Jahns was asking for the pickup, $750, “Kate” sent four money orders, valued at $500 each. A request was e-mailed stating, “Take to your bank and cash them and send the remaining money to my shipping company.”

Jahns verified with the Burns branch of the US Bank that the four money orders were fraudulent. They were stamped with a Wal-Mart business logo, and were supposedly purchased by a Thomas James of Wichita, Kan.

Jahns contacted Wal-Mart and learned that he was not the first to have received these specific counterfeit money orders. They informed him that an investigation was ongoing regarding this particular scam, and asked that he provide copies of the fakes to the Secret Service. Jahns also turned the information over to the fraud department of the delivery service, DHL, which the money orders were shipped through.