Before depositing any cashier's checks in your bank, here is an easy way to protect yourself: Ask the bank teller to  CALL IN THE ROUTING NUMBERS on that check.  It is fast and easy, there is a national registry of bank phone numbers.  If you just deposit the check, the bank will not question it's validity, and it will take days or weeks to discover it was phony.  You will be responsible for all the bank charges incurred, and overdrafts if you started spending it.

Crooks are printing out fake cashier's checks from their home printers and sending them out as fast as they are printed to as many sellers as they can (you can see the wet ink on the inside of their envelopes)  If we help educate everyone to simply check routing numbers, the crooks will spend all their money on airmail (over $1 a letter) because this scam is usually mailed from overseas, and they will go broke. 

If you are selling anything under $1,000 that can't be shipped on ebay you are at high risk of a fake cashier's check scam--especially if you offer a "buy-it-now" price.  I have had half a dozen scammers respond to one of my $100 auctions in the furniture section, and especially used vehicles on ebay motors.  These crooks are looking for cheap auctions because they have printed out fake $3,000 - $5,000 checks  and ask you to western union the extra to their "driver" to come and pick up your vehicle or furniture.  They are greedy and want to make at least $2,000 per scam so they target cheap cars and trucks. 

Here are some typical red flags that I encountered:  The buyer said he is buying the car for a "client."  He insisted on getting my phone number.  I received a cashiers check from London (not from the U.S. as he claimed)  It was made out for thousands more than my auction price, asking me to western union the difference to the "delivery man" who will use the money to come and get the vehicle.  I received a phone call from a "private number" --an arab man with poor english asked me for western union numbers. 
O.k. here is how this works....if you wire cash to these guys, their check will bounce, but you have just sent them thousands of dollars of real cash!

Spread the word!  Police suspect these guys are terrorists! 

obvious target keywords:  collector car, muscle car, used car, used truck, couch, wedding dress, dining set, bedroom set, chevy, ford, pontiac, gm, mustang, corvette, dodge, etc.