There is no person who is going to pick up the item. He's going to send the money order and "OOOOPS!" his assistant fucked up and sent it for too much money. He just fired his assistant. Would you kindly please deposit the money in the bank, and "after the check has cleared" wire him the remainder, minus $50 or so for your troubles, because he needs the money during his trip in London.
So, just give him a random address (if you don't want him to have your own address) with a fake name. Then, a couple days later, claim that the check arrived (actually, he'll email you the same day that the check arrived to tell you that "the check arrived this morning. I trust you got it okay and will immediately deposit it in the bank. Then, after the check clears, use western union to send me the balance, minus (different small random amount) for your troubles." Of course, if you deposited the check, it would clear, because they have to clear the check within 3-5 days, depending on the source. But, 2 weeks later, the check will come back as no good because it's been forged or written based on a stolen credit card. You would then be screwed.
So, the day after the check "arrives" or after you anticipated the check would arrive, then it's time to start screwing with him. Tell him you don't have a Western Union nearby. (he'll waste the time searching for the western union branches near you; probably a 1-2 minute waste of his time.) Then, tell him that a local law has forbid Western Union from sending out money any more because of all the scammers. So, you'll send it via US Post Office money order, because then he wouldn't get scammed out of his money. You don't want him to have someone steal his money of course. Add in your own twists. I've told several whose item I "sold" to them on craigslist that it was stolen after their check cleared, so I have to get a bigger money order, and since the insurance company covered the item for more than I sold it for, I'll refund them an extra $50 for their troubles.
Have fun, and if you get anything interesting, let us know. My thread's been pretty boring so far. The only thing that really amused me is that when 2 weeks later, he said his shipper was coming by to pick up the item, I called him "fucking retarded." He didn't like that, he's "not rerarded."
BUT, I got a United States address from him. Did a little online research. VERY shady characters at that address. So, I ended it at that point with "your check bounced. I ran to the post office and had them cancel sending the money orders."
Monday morning, I'll give the rest of the transcripts of the emails to the postmaster at the local PO. She has scans of all the envelopes & contents inside. Now, she'll have a physical US address for them to check out. And, that may make a real difference for a number of people who could potentially be scammed.
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