Got scammed for the first time on ebay...help

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Posted By: warshawlaw

You can put in a stop order on any instrument that can be traced, including cashiers checks and money orders. The problem is that under most state and federal laws, there is no duty on the part of the recipient institution to check for a cancellation before cashing the item (many have stale instrument rules that will weed out old checks, but little more). If a scammer elects to deposit the item in his or her bank account, eventually a charge-back will take place when the check is declined and your money will be ok. If he or she goes to a check cashing place instead, however, you are SOL because the check will have to be honored once the cashing institution takes it. I know it makes no sense that this can happen, but that is how the system is designed.

FYI, your absolute best protection is to use a credit card.