Quote Originally Posted by symbolofmylife View Post
5. Make sure that funds paid into your account have cleared! Stolen or fraudulent cheques deposited at the bank will show in your account, but is not available for use. Call your bank. Insist that they make sure that the funds are cleared and available for your use. However, this is not exactly 100% reliable. Be safe: deal in hard cash only.
I had a case once where I sold a cellphone via junk mail and the guy deposited the money into my account and the funds were cleared. So I sent off the phone but later that week, the cheque (which was obviously not bank guaranteed) bounced, causing my account to go into the negative. It was a whole story with big fights and everything, but I eventually claimed my money back from the bank. In my case though, there was misconduct on the bank's side for clearing the funds immediately without my permission.