A Salina man is nearly bilked out of $2,000 in a Craigslist scam.

According to Salina Police Captain Mike Sweeney, a 42-year-old man posted on the on-line Craigslist website that he was looking for work. The man was contacted by someone from out of state who claimed that their elderly parents were moving to Salina. The Salina man was offered a job of being a driver, driving the couple around town as needed for medical appointments, shopping trips, and other errands. As part of the deal, a car was to be shipped to the man in Salina as well.

Sweeney says that the man was sent a check in the amount of $2,420.33. The check was from Gunnison County Electrical Associates of Gunnison, Colorado. He was instructed to deposit the check, keep $420.33, and send two separate $1,000 Western Union transactions to a person named Margaret Kelly.

The man sent the first $1,000 transaction, and was preparing to send the second when he was alerted by his bank that the $2,420.33 check was bogus. He did not send the second transaction, and instead contacted Salina Police. Officers were able to cancel the first $1,000 Western Union transaction that had already been sent.

Police caution citizens to be wary when doing business with someone who they have never met. When a person sends money with instructions to keep a portion of it, and to forward the remainder to another location, it is nearly always a scam.