You never know where you're going to find them.  And this time I don't mean the slithery, little reptiles who eat mice.  I'm talking about the snakes who lurk everywhere on the internet just waiting for you to make one, stupid mistake so they can pounce on you and grab your money or your stuff.  It almost happened to me again yesterday during a Craigslist transaction.

I had just listed my latest iPod Nano for sale for what I presumed to be a reasonable price.  A few minutes later I received the following email:

Dear Sir/Ma
  I Will like to  know  may be your  item  is  still  availablle  and may be you can ship yo  washinton st union  city,indiana.Because  i just  got a  job in indiana and am  very  busy to  meet  in person but i have set up  my paypal e.mail account  for  the transaaction and i have  i  will add $50.00  to the  money so  you  will be  able to  ship via first class  post.So get  back to me  with  paypal e.mail account
 Regards
  J.Viduka        

Broken English aside, $50 extra for shipping?  Sounds great!  Maybe a little too great...after all, why would anyone pay more for a used item than they could pruchase a new one for?  So I investigated further.  I agreed to the transaction and waited to see money fall into my PayPal account.  Not surprisingly, it didn't.  Instead I received the following email with an official-looking PayPal banner across the top:

Dear Paypal User,

   This transaction is in order and legal. You shall receive the said amount of  $215.00USD for your an item: 8GB 3rd Gen. iPod Nano Silver  as soon as you send the valid shipment tracking number to PayPal. This transaction is not fraudulent and you are assured of quality service. We encourage you to ship the item immediately as your payment has been confirmed by us. Security is of critical important at PayPal. As soon as we receive the valid reference number address which was on the receipt and confirm the shipping tracking number. You account would be credited immediately. We need the VALID shipping reference tracking number from you to our customer care ( comfirmation_approved@consultant.com) to complete this transaction.
 
The money has now been deducted from the buyer's account (janetviduka703@aol.com) and is ready to be deposited into your account. It will be credited into your PayPal account (***********@***.com ) as soon as we receive the shipping reference tracking number from you.
 
This is due to new policies at PayPal to protect the both buyer and seller in the face of the growing number of fraudulent activities perpetrated via the internet. You are encouraged to complete this transaction and reflex to this action would enable us to credit your account with immediate effect.
 
Here at PayPal you can be assured that your security and safety is our topmost concern.
We hope to hear from you soon.
 
Thanks you for using PayPal
the PayPal Team

So that was it.  A scam.  In fact, one of the oldest scams in the book.  You send the item, and we'll 'release' the money that's already been deducted from their account.  Lucky for me I notice things like misspellings and grammatical errors in 'official' documents...almost a sure sign of fraud.  And the further someone goes to assure you that they're legitimate (This transaction is not fraudulent...) the more likely they're trying to scam you.  I also do a significant amount of business with PayPal and I know this is not how they conduct their transactions EVER.  But I recognize that not everyone has that experience.

So please be careful out there!  Protect your stuff and your money.  There's plenty of legitimate buyers and sellers out there, so don't get sucked in by the promise of a few extra bucks.  Let your brains be your guide.  If it sounds at all hinky, it probably is.