[Ken07AOVette]

Originally Posted by CaberTosser

As an educational side-note to the forum, I should mention a thing I did when I got the cheque. I forgot to stipulate cash but I figured they'd not be dumb enough to commit the crime of writing a purposefully bad cheque as that becomes a whole 'nother ball game for them.

I received the cheque and it was from a bank other than my own. I went to their home branch noted on the cheque and got it certified for $25. I then went and deposited it at my own bank through a human teller rather than the machine that I would normally use. I just wanted to note that you can certify cheques in this manner as the recipient. Doing this can protect you against possible cancelling of the cheque or against fluctuations in their bank account, say if other payments come out in the interim type of thing.

Side note- certified cheques can be stopped/reversed in certain situations for up to 10 days. The reason for the stoppage generally has to be that the account owner states it is not an authorized signature; fraud/forgery. This is what the banks say, but not what they do.
With sketchy people I accept cash, money order or etransfer only. I recommend doing the same.