Transamerica Financial sent me a bad check for $1,680.21. Cedar Rapids Iowa
Around June 12, 2014, I received a check for $1,680.21, and a Customer Service Evaluation Tool to do the assignment. they claim this is a training exercise for me, and it considered a job interview. On July 6, 2014, I deposited the check for $1,680.21, and when I withdraw some mony, My bank account has -$169.67. on July 18, 2014, I received an overdraft notice from the bank, so I called one of the co-ordinators stating the check for $1,680.21 was unpayable. and they told me they put a stop payment on the check for $1,680.21 because I took my time doin' the assignment, so I told them I am goin' to comlete the assignments and put the funds back into my account. and they told me they will see. On July 20, 2014, I completed section A and called one of the co-ordinators and told them I completed section A. they asked me did I complete section B, and I told them I will complete section B. and they said they will see. On July 21, 2014, I completed section B(sent Bernard Katana $1,161.00), and I faxed the completed Customer Service Evaluation Tool to one of the co-ordinators. I called one of the co-ordinators, and I told them I completed section B too. they said they will see. Around July 25, 2014, my bank account is -$1,69.17, so called, and they claim they will send me another form of payment.
2 Updates & Rebuttals
Stacey
Texas,You got scammed
#3Consumer Comment
Thu, September 18, 2014
Period - not the bank's fault. You deposited a worthless check, spent money that was not in your account so you have no one to blame but yourself. This is a scam that has been going on for years. Should have done your homework because there is not such thing as "online jobs".
Robert
Irvine,California,
Transamerica did NOT
#3Consumer Comment
Wed, September 17, 2014
I hate to be the bearer of bad news..but you got scammed and not by Transamerica.
Let me guess as to what happened
You somehow got a check in the mail to be some sort of "Secret Shopper", perhaps you filled out something on-line. Where the whole scam went probably something like this. You were required to call up the number. They may have done some sort of light questioning as to your experience..etc. But this was totally meaninless other than to make you "think" it is real. You were then told to go to a store(usually a big box retail store) and buy $20-$30 worth of stuff that was yours to keep. You were then supposed to go to Western Union and purchase a MoneyGram to "test" their customer service. From the phone call they gave you some place in Canada to send it to as that is where their "associate" is. Most likely they also had you write some sort of code number(word). And as your fee they were going to allow you to keep $200-$300 as your "fee".
Now, of course to put you at ease they said you could deposit the check first and wait until it "clears" before you sent them the money.
Does any of this sound familar...I bet it does. Because you can read all over the Internet people still falling for this scam.
After all you are thinking who in their right mind would refuse to do an hours worth of work for a couple hundred dollars..easy money. And they are well aware of that..and take full advantage of it. But the fact is that the warning signs are there..if you just looked at them.
1. The number you gave was to a phone in Alberta Canada. So you would have to ask yourself why would a company in Iowa be asking me to call Canada? Answer...because in these Cross Border scams are not the real company. They created a fake check from a real company. Where because they are in Canada there is really nothing you can do to catch them and they know it.
2. REAL shopping evaluation services pay perhaps $5-$20 per job, and each job could take 1-2 hours, and they NEVER pay you up front.
3. When you went to Western Union if you actually read the form you would see that they have warnings of this exact scam all over their paperwork.
Oh and as to why they are willing to allow it to clear. Well because banking regulations require a bank to make funds available within a certain amount of time and they know it. They also know that the check won't come back "bad" for several days. So they have a period of 3-7 days where you "think" they are legitimate.
Now, it gets worse for you. Because you have attempted to deposit a fraudlent check your bank is going to make you responsible for paying them back. Not only that but many banks are now taking a very hard line, because these scams have been going on for a long time and you are supposed to have some common sense. That is they have been known to close your account due to the fraud, they will also notate this in a company called ChexSystems making it next to impossible to open another account at a regular bank for many years.
I am not trying to be mean or scare you, and hopefully they don't do this. I am just letting you know how serious the situation you are in could become.
Good luck but in reality your best course of action is to work with your bank to come up with a payment plan you can deal with to get your acccount even again.
Oh and it doesn't matter the reason or how good a story someone gives you. If ANYONE you don't personally know asks you to deposit a check and send them ANY money(yes even $1) it is a SCAM and do not do it. This also goes for companies that will offer you a loan, but in order to get a loan you must send them a "security deposit"..again SCAM.