As a new customer, we were at first amazed when our company received an inquiry about 50 bales of our hay.  Wow, we thought, it only took four days!  However, after dealing with these people via e-mail for the past several days (4 to 5), it didn't occur to us that things were awry until their FedEx arrived with a legitimate-looking check.  We went ahead and deposited the check (after making 2 copies), then called both banks to see if the check had cleared.  Our bank immediately informed us that the entire ordeal sounded suspicious, and they strongly urged us to wait five to ten business days just to see if things panned out.

The amount of the check covered more than the cost of our hay.  "Matt Billy" told us to deduct our portion, then send the remainder to his shipping agent.  The shipping agent, Global Carrier, wanted the money wired via Western Union to the company accountant.  Once we learned that Western Union would charge a hefty amount just to send the overage, we e-mailed the proposed buyer and asked him if the remainder of the money was to cover both the wire transfer fee and the shipping costs.  So that all parties received the appropriate amount, we asked the proposed buyer to provide us with the exact amount owed to the shipping agent, and we offered to refund the difference of the three charges (ours, the wire transfer, and the shipping fee) should any money remain.  We were later told that the overage covered both charges, but he failed to mention the exact cost of the shipping fee.

The day after we deposited his check, we received a phone call from a foreign man around 10:16 PM asking about the status of his hay order.  When we told him that we were waiting for his check to clear, he seemed to be taken by surprise, then he asked about how long the process would take for the check to clear.  Upon telling him approximately five business days, he seemed to have lost interest and hung up.

Having already searched online to retrieve information on the various company names, we then started checking the white pages to identify the names, addresses, and phone number provided to us by these "artists."  To make a long story short, the following is all of the information we have collected thus far:

Name:  Matt Billy    
Screen Name:  Matt87billy
Business Name:  Matt Company
Business Address:  49 St. Nicholas Terrace, Apt. 2, New York, NY 10033

Name:  Matt Billy

Screen Name:  Matt87billy

Address:  2563 Aududon Avenue, Suite 5, Manhattan, NY 10033