Cashier's checks from people you don't know or banks you don't know should always be considered forgeries until proven otherwise. They are easy to fake and the penalties for faking them are virtually nil; hence forgeries are rampant.

The days of cashier's checks being default trustworthy are long gone.

Look up craigslist scams. "My agent will come and pick up your goods, and give you a cashier's check."

After 5 days, the check is discovered to be fake, and you have to pay the money. They're taking advantage of the payment lag.

This happened to me. A guy mailed me a cashier's check and said his "friend" would pick up the item. I called the bank the check was drawn on; they confirmed it was fake.

I pretended I never got the money and the "friend" never showed up. Lesson learned. Now I only exchange Craigslist items in person, in the parking lot of a police station, for cash. And I test the cash with a counterfeit detector pen.

> And I test the cash with a counterfeit detector pen.

FYI, having owned a liquor store for a while and processing a ton of cash, the only counterfeit bills the pens could detect were the crappy amateur ones that were already pretty obvious without using the pen. Plenty of counterfeit bills passed the pen test just fine and didn't get revealed until the bank rejected them from a deposit.

If the named payee has physical possession of the check, they can cash it and it can't be undone(without a valid court order, i.e. fraud, etc). All other situations, it can be undone, with work.

If you're at bank you can just withdraw cash tho