It all started on Craigslist with this, the ad I’d placed once I finally admitted to myself that I’d no longer be riding fast or far:
It continued with this exchange of texts, first from Moses Helster:
December 6
Hi there! I am very interested in buying your bike and willing to pay your asking price. I’m currently working at sea as an oceanographer for NatGeo. Due to this I will not be able to come pick up myself. I can purchase a cashier check and mail it to you to cover the final asking price and I can arrange for a reliable shipper to come and pick it up once the check has been cleared by your bank. Let me know who to make the check to and where to send it.
Regards Moses Helster
*****
To which I responded on December 7
Mr. Helster we have deal! Make out the cashiers check to Richard Goldberg (at my address). When the check clears the bike can be picked up at my address. Additionally I have an almost unused 8-8 1/2 shoes for the bike. They’re free. If you want them they’re yours.
*****
On December 7 he wrote:
I am glad you agreed to sell to me and also the final price is alright by me so i will go head and mail you the payment..I will send you the usps tracking #after mailing it Regards Moses Helster
*****
To which I re-inquired: And the shoes?
*****
Two days later, on December 9, I received this:
Good morning Richard, Sorry it took so long to get back to you. I want you to know i sent you the check as agreed. It was shipped via USPS with tracking number XXXXXXXXXXXX. After reconciliation of my account, I discovered that somehow my assistant must have overpaid you. The payment meant for my daughter’s school fee’s was sent to you! Please help me fix this error! I’m so sorry for the confusion this has caused. Regards Moses Helster
Please when payment is received in the mail, I would like you to deduct your money as agreed, and send the remaining to my daughter’s school., The shipping company will be responsible for the pickup. Regards Moses Helster
*****
On the same day, December 9, I answered:
Mr. Helster–I will not cash the check but rather return it to you. Please have your assistant make out the proper checks. we will do our business when I receive a check for the correct amount.
*****
On December 10 I received this:
Good morning. The payment I sent to you will deliver today..I want you to be on the look out and get back to me once you are in possession of it..
And then, later on the same day, this from him:
Hello
Richard, Information reaching me from usps l have it that the payment had been delivered..All you need to do is to have the Check cashed at your bank and get back to me once you have the cash with you so that I can update my daughter’s school..I look forward to hearing from you.
Do you have the cash now?
I need your response
*****
Not hearing back from me, on December 12 I received his final text.
what’s going on Richard,…you have been quite since you received my check…i need you to keep me updated
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OK, so on December 6th I received a text from someone who wanted the bike at my price without first looking at it or having someone he trusted look at it. Hmm… Nonetheless, being eager for the sale, I agreed to his terms and sent him the address at which his trusted shipping company could pick up the bike. So delighted was I that I offered him the shoes as well.
On the 7th he confirmed the agreement but ignored the shoes. Hmm number two.
On the 9th he testified that, indeed, the check was in the mail, then acknowledged that his “assistant” had made an easily corrected error, that I was to receive a check for vastly more than the meager $400 to which I was entitled. He also noted the simple action I might take to correct this and reconfirmed that the bike would be picked up. [Now we are well past the hmm stage.]
This was quite enough to overcome my eagerness for a sale, hence my reply saying I’d wait for the proper check before going any further. [My evaluation and approach were both confirmed in a visit to the 20th Precinct of the NYPD and by my wife’s unfailing common sense.] This not fitting into his plan, he ignored my text and, on December 10th, texted only about the check’s imminent arrival. By this time the USPS envelope had been delivered and I refused delivery and sent it back to the return address in Ohio.
The following day, the 11th, he again texted regarding the check and again mentioned his daughter’s school. His concluding “Do you have the cash now? I need your response” was clearly geared to get the money fast.
The next day, the 12th, the eagerness and pressure continued, this time with a hint of feigned desperation. Nothing has followed. It’s now been eight days. I still have the bike and the shoes.
Anybody want to buy a light, fast, wonderfully geared bike?
Welcome! 