Yeah, they're out there... A friend of mine sold one of his creations for $32,000. The buyer showed up one evening with a "certified" check and his tow rig. They loaded the car on the trailer and it went away. My friend deposited the check the next morning. The following day he got a call from his bank with the news that the check was a phony! Turns out the guy that "bought" the car is a suspected member of the Chinese mafia! That's been 4 or 5 years ago; he has never been able to get his money or the car. The police told him he might as well write it off. They say there's nothing they can do and if he harrasses the people too much, he could end up dead or he might just disappear!

He told me, speaking from experience, there are numbers on cashier's and certified checks. Call the issuing bank and verify the check is real before you accept it. If you can't verify the check, don't accept it. If the buyer doesn't want to wait or won't allow you to verify, tell 'em to get lost.