[ale] [OT] new kind of scam

[Mike Harrison]

> I got what follows in the mail this afternoon, and my response
> was "NO!" followed by declaring my willingness to sell _only_

While legally, a check can be printed in plain blank paper,
or even hand written...

You'd have to be insane to do such bizarre things
in an age of PayPal, ACH/Wire Transfers, Credit Cards,
Western Union/Moneygram,

His "electronic cashiers check" phrase is laughable,
unless he were a scammer and you were crazy..

A cashiers check is a check from the BANK..
They don't need you to print paper, they have a "FedLine"
as well as private electronic transfer means.

I've done some large hasty transactions from odd parties
by having them wire the money to my bank, notifying my bank manager
first (you need his wire transfer ABA routing and account number anyway,
and it's a one-way account (money goes in..)). Then you go to your bank,
pay the wire transfer fee (if any) and deposit the money or cash it.
And that way the sender does not know your account numbers, and can't
bounce the check. It's too late.

To be on-topic a bit: Once upon a time I built a Linux based ACH 
processing system called Qdebit, it worked, processed LOTS of money..
until the people that owned it snorted too much coke. It was glorious
watching two 6way HP cubes running RedHat and Sybase 11.0.3 move money
and sad when I had to unplug the systems.