I'm going to do some possible contract work in my field and I've had an offer for some work I found through a reputable venue. However, that venue doesn't handle payments or anything like that. I seem to have negotiated some work, and the person agreed to it. Now, the job requires that I work with another person whom my possible customer is going to contract with. This other contractor will do some work on another aspect of the job.
Today, my 'customer' tells me they want me send me an amount 3x what I asked, in the form of a check. I am supposed to deposit it, deduct the amount I specified, and then send the remainder to the other contractor, who needs to complete their work before I can start mine. My customer says once I do this, the other contractor will send the customer what I need and they (the customer) will forward me the stuff so I can do my part of the job. Finally, the customer proceeded to ask me the name of my bank, but was careful to specify they did NOT want details of my bank. I'm thinking they wanted the name of the bank so if I were to deposit it, the customer could confirm through their own bank I had deposited it. But this payment arrangement seems strange.
Is this a scam? Thanks in advance for any help.