putting ads in paper to sale something and getting scammed

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Recently I put for sale an appliance for $100 on an online free ad place and I got an e-mail from someone answering the ad and saying they were out of the country and they wanted the item. They wanted to send me $1,500 cashiers check. For me to cash it and take out my part plus an extra $100 for my trouble...and send the remainder to an address and his friend would pick up the appliance. Well, that sounded to good to be true, so I did a search online about it and found out that there are people scamming people just like that. Evedently, somhow the check is no good but you won't know that right away and by the time you realize that you will have sent them money back and be stuck paying all of it back. Anyone else have this happen to you? I've heard elderly get scammed like this often.