[Hopey]

[ QUOTE ]
Uh, if it hadn't been for the warning from the bank teller, you would definitely have fallen for it. You owe the bank teller big-time, otherwise you would have fallend for this (obvious) scam.

Fallen for what? I get a check in the mail I deposit it and it clears in 7 days. Check was good, what have I fallen for?

[/ QUOTE ]

You would have fallen for one of the oldest Nigerian scams out there:

1) You get a cheque for $6000. You deposit it in the bank.
2) The cheque "clears" in seven days. All that means is that they've released the funds to you. It doesn't mean that the cheque is not counterfeit. Legally, the bank is required to release funds to you within X days (It's either 7 or 14, I can't remember which). However, if the cheque turns out to be counterfeit, the bank is not on the hook for the money. You are.
3) You send a cheque for $4500 to your Nigerian friend.
4) A little while later the cheque is discovered to be counterfeit. The bank recovers the funds from your account...but oops, you've already sent the $4500 to Nigeria.

These guys are all over E-bay, and are scouring the classifieds looking for suckers. Usually they don't warn you ahead of time that they're going to send you a cheque for more than the value of whatever it is you're selling. Usually the cheque arrives for a larger amount and then they play it off as a mistake but ask you to send them back the difference so that don't have to go through the trouble of sending another cheque.

I've operated quite a few e-shops over the years, and I get these guys trying to pull this stuff on me all the time. I've learned to ignore any "customers" from Africa.