I feel it is necessary to tell this story, both to show my ignorance ( who knows why I think that's necessary) and maybe, to help others who may get caught in the same scenario.
Recently I sold my Air Arms HFT500 online. I sold it for a very reasonable $1050 price, plus shipping. When the cashier's check arrived it was for $2980, whoa! horse!, what's happening here. I messaged the seller and he ended up calling, seemed incredibly surprised that something had gone wrong at his bank. After he checked it out, he told me that his bank was supposed to cut and mail two seperate checks, one to me for the gun and another to a wedding planner in Florida. So commenced the discussion of how I would return the extra money. He came up with some pretty iffy ideas, venmo, cashapp, money orders, etc, none of which I was comfortable with. After some back and forth, I searched online how to verify a cashier's check and the very first line of every page I looked at was to call the issuing bank. So I called and was informed they did not verify checks of any kind over the phone? What, they can't even tell you if THEIR check is good? There were no local branches in my area of the country. So, I then took the check to my bank, where they know me and I've banked for many years, and was told, "it looks ok to me" by the several tellers working that day. Now here is where I made my mistake. After the tacit approval of the check I'm thinking even though this guy seems anxious to get his money on the way to Florida (he was in Arizona), since the check looked legit, I would send his money on to Florida. So I purchased a cashier's check made out to the planner in FL. and fedexed it to him. That was on Thursday, and on Monday, the bank called to say the cashier's check was altered, and bogus. When I went to the bank, we looked at copies of the check and it looked perfect, in every detail, at which point the bank said it could still be legit? Anyway, I know what's happening, I'm out my money for the cashier's check and I've lost the gun. What's weird is the guy keeps answering my text and calls claiming to be honest. When I demanded the gun back he said he would ship it back and gave me a different phone number to call, to which I never got an answer. I call fedex to head off the two packages, the gun and the check, to which I find the check still in transit, but the gun delivered in AZ, the fastest delivery across country ever.
Now the story get's weirder, if possible. I call fedex and they inform me that the check has been intercepted by fedex security and is being held in Mississippi at their security division and will ONLY be returned to me once the investigation is finished. How on earth did they know to intercept this check when it obviously happened long before any of my calls? After two or three calls to fedex, I learned all the dates and times and the exact person who worked for fedex who received the check in their security division. After a couple weeks the check arrived and I was able to salvage the roughly $2000 of the nearly $3000 I was out. WAY TO GO FEDEX!!
The story doesn't end there. I just wrote off the gun, thinking I would never see it again. Time passes, probably three more weeks, and I'm having coffee one morning and the doorbell rings. There's the fedex guy with the unopened package with the gun in it. SOMEHOW fedex was also able to intercept the gun too. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? So, now I'm whole again and will never accept a cashier's check again.
After much discussion with the bank, fedex and others, here's what we've come up with as a scenario of what happened. A guy in AZ scouts out a house who's front porch is secluded form houses around it. Looks up the owner's name and uses that to ship the gun to, knowing he can track it, and know the delivery date and steal it off the porch. Walla! gun in hand, no one the wiser. Same thing with his accomplice in FL, check is delivered to a legitimate house and stolen off the porch. The only rub is that the check package probably required a signature, not sure what happened at this point, but somehow, some way, fedex picked up on the scam, and kept the package. When I started calling, and they realized the package to AZ was also involved, they either intercepted it too, or it is possible, the thieves were unable to grab the package before the homeowner got it and kept it, until he could have fedex return it. No matter how it shakes out, it's a miracle of good work by fedx.
I can't say enough good things about how FEDEX handled this mess for me, and how helpful and reassuring every single person I talked to at FEDEX was, making sure I understood they had this in hand and that it may take some time, but they were doing all they could to rectify the situation. It seems all we do is gripe about delivery companies, but I must say, this is way beyond the call of duty and simply amazing work on the part of FEDEX. I know for sure they intercepted the check long before I ever knew the scam was unfolding. The package with the rifle, I'm not sure if they intercepted it or the homeowner called them and asked that it be returned as he/she did not order it. From all the markings on the package, it seems more likely that FEDEX intercepted it, but I can't be sure. The folks at FEDEX are all in my prayers, and I'm so grateful of how they handled their jobs, it's so good in this day and age to see people who care and care enough to do everything in their power to make things right.
Until I can find a way to thank them, I salute them for their fine work!!!
