Scam? Or no scam?

[interiors66]

We have recently advertised a piece of furniture on another forum and had immediate interest from someone who made an offer without seeing the item . The offer was over the asking price , providing we remove it from sale . He confirmed he will send a cheque immediately and it will cover the cost of transport which he has asked us to pay the driver in cash .
A cheque arrived today for the amount agreed and plus 500 euro more.
He has since asked via email if it has arrived and could we bank it immediately .
We haven't and are suspicious , should we be ?

[Helen]

Personally, I'd be very suspicious.

It's not the same scenario as spelled out in this link, but similar!

http://www.friday-ad.co.uk/Scam.asp

[Satbloke66]

SCAM

The cheque will be from a stolen cheque book, it will clear in your bank but will bounce up to 2 weeks later. You will have given away the furniture and paid him cash for the privilege of taking it away.

Bin the cheque.

[Kate]

Another similar one

Rental scam
If you advertise your property to rent on the internet, always keep an eye out for scams from potential ‘rentees’ A typical one is as follows. An email will come from another country, often Nigeria, looking for villa/give rental, often poor spelling and grammar, maybe for an important person or a large group, always prepared to pay the price, no questions asked, often a @yahoo address……) When the cheque arrives, it will have been accidentally made out for more than you requested and they will ask you to wire the extra amount back to them. The scam is simple. A cheque transfers money from one bank to the other but only becomes 'real' money after the ‘real’ transaction has taken place between the two banks. This takes time. A Western Union money transfer is instant and the recipient can withdraw almost instantly! Et Voilà! They get YOUR money instantly, whilst THEIR money is reclaimed much later by the bank, once the cheque is shown to be false!

[interiors66]

Funnily enough the cheque was not in his name but written by one of his associates an address in Paris .
We have returned the cheque to the address .
He has been told he can purchase the item if he sends the amount to the transport company and they can pay us cash on collection .