One other thing to be aware of when receiving money via wire transfers: there's not going to be a way for someone on the far end of the deal to know that the money was received by your bank and is in your account. They request the money be transferred, but once that happens, the rest is a black box--they don't have any way to know when the funds will show up in your account. So, if they pretend they do know, be on your guard. (We've received wire payments from clients of my computer consulting business overseas and they have no notion of when the funds show up--and it isn't instantaneous.)

One more thing (and this is astounding that Rick and Mary's bank didn't spot this immediately): a wire transfer will almost always also show a deduction in your account for receiving the transfer ($15 to $30--as per the posting above by stormcloud). There's almost always a charge on both ends and the person sending the money won't know what your bank's charge is so an even amount--like $12,000 is also a danger sign. ($11,975 would be a lot more belivable--but only if they account for their own bank's origination charge.)

BTW, for overseas payments (including large amounts), PayPal works very nicely. We use it to pay consultants in Canada and Australia that do work for us. They have excellent protections for both parties in place.

Ciao!

John