Washington Mutual Bank They wrongly accused me at knowing of counterfeit check wrote to me Lakeland Florida
I received a check in the mail for 3950.00. I called the company it was a research agency it all sounded legit. So I went ahead and did it. Washington Mutual told me it would have to clear in 5 days. This was on a Monday that I deposited the check. Sure enough on Saturday the funds were available. My first thought was cool everthings went through were good to go.
So on SaturdayI took out a portion of the money to do the first job requested. Then I let the remainder sit there till like Wed the 15th . About a week later I recieved a letter in the mail something was wrong with the check at the amount of 3950.00. That I needed to contact the bank as soon as possible to resolve this issue. So I did . I talk to the Manager Manty.
At that point he starts to change his tone of voice like I had commited this crime. Like I knew it was fake.I told him look I have all the paperworkright in my hand . I also preceded to tell him I had checks out. What about them. All he kept saying was you owe us are money back. Kept saying I needed to come in to the bank right now. He was so abrupt with me. I thought mabye he was setting me up. To tell The police that I had purposely done this.
So I Finally got ahold of my husband told him what was going on with the bank how they were making accusations. When we got the bank. I set and tried to plea my case. All he kept sayin you owe that money and we will get it. In a very rude way.I told him what do I do my sons disability check is to be direct deposited on the first. Thats all the money I have to pay my bills. Again he said you can try to call social security but we will get that money.
I did I called Social Security Tried to get the deposit stop. I was 3 days to late. There cut of is the 17th. I called on the 20th. Now you know as well as i do by Manty's Comment he knew it was to late. Still though at that point I thought it would come in Check form. I waited by the mail box till the mail ran. I had even had bills extended waiting on the mail.
When it didnt come I had a bad feeling it went to the bank. I tried social security first they said call the bank. If aint there and you dont recieve it 3 Days call us back. Low and behold. I call the bank, again who do I talk to Manty. When I ask him if thats what happened to the check. He said yep, Now you only owe us 31something. I said Hey you mean to tell me I cant get any of that money.
I said I filed the police report you told me. His next comment was lets see what I do. Come on in here and lets work something out. He knew they wasnt going to give me that money. What he didnt know is my mom has turned real bitter in her elder age. I called her and told her what was going on. They made a couple phone calls and found out they cant take a goverment check for a bad debt. So I took her up there to talk to him.
Again I told you we would get our money, you owe it to us. My moms words was you will be hearing from our attorney. Now I have bounced 5 check from them freezing my account. They took my only form of income. The checks will go to the state within 15 days. Yet all I got we will get our money. I wanted to tell him tell that to four little boys you took from .
Loretta
Lakeland, Florida
U.S.A.
7 Updates & Rebuttals
Pardel
Bernie,Missouri,
U.S.A.
The checks look very real . . .
#8Consumer Suggestion
Thu, November 06, 2008
I also had a similar situation as this poster. I can see how she fell for the scam, fortunately, I didn't fall for it.
I use to sell on Ebay so my address was listed on my listings. I received an E-mail from someone that stated they wanted to place a large order and would be sending me a money order for the order. One day a few days later I went to the post office and received an envelope with 3 one thousand dollar money orders in it. The enclosed letter stated this was a prepayment for the order the person would be placing with me (I sold beauty products). I immediately became suspicious as the sender wanted me to deposit the 3 money orders and then transfer the money from my bank account to a 2nd individual via a money wire (keeping $500.00 for the order the individual would be placing with me). These money orders looked 100% real. I took them to the post office and asked the postal manager if the money orders were real. She looked at them and stated they did appear to be real and that I could cash them. I told her I was highly suspicious that they were not real and if there was anyway to make absolute sure they were real. She said she could turn them in to the department that handled fraud and have them checked. Bottom line, I was right the money orders were missing the required 'water' mark and were phoney. Also, the maximum amount allowable for a money order is $750.00. This alone should have told the post office these money orders were fake, however, I was first told they were real and I could cash them.
If I had taken the postal managers word at face value and not insisted they prove to me the money order was real I would have been in the same situation as this poster.
I did receive a follow up letter from the original person that sent the money orders. He wanted to know if I had received the money orders and deposited them. I returned his e-mail with ROFLMAO There is just one problem, your money orders are fake! lol I wasn't born yesterday! ROFLMAO
Never heard from him again.
These checks and money orders will clear when deposited in the receipents account. It usually takes 3 to 4 weeks for them to then bounce back.
Edgeman
Chico,California,
U.S.A.
A well known scam...
#8Consumer Comment
Thu, November 06, 2008
Loretta, read this:
http://www.snopes.com/fraud/employment/shopper.asp
I'm sorry to say that you were ripped off, but not by the bank.
Edgeman
Chico,California,
U.S.A.
A well known scam...
#8Consumer Comment
Thu, November 06, 2008
Loretta, read this:
http://www.snopes.com/fraud/employment/shopper.asp
I'm sorry to say that you were ripped off, but not by the bank.
Edgeman
Chico,California,
U.S.A.
A well known scam...
#8Consumer Comment
Thu, November 06, 2008
Loretta, read this:
http://www.snopes.com/fraud/employment/shopper.asp
I'm sorry to say that you were ripped off, but not by the bank.
Edgeman
Chico,California,
U.S.A.
A well known scam...
#8Consumer Comment
Thu, November 06, 2008
Loretta, read this:
http://www.snopes.com/fraud/employment/shopper.asp
I'm sorry to say that you were ripped off, but not by the bank.
Cristina
Bristow,Virginia,
U.S.A.
This is YOUR fault
#8Consumer Comment
Thu, November 06, 2008
Oh my Lord...I can't believe you didn't know it was fake??!?! Why would someone, out of the blue, send you a check for thousands of dollars? That just doesn't make sense. If it sounds too good to be true...it is!!!
Sorry, you owe the bank the money and it is your fault for being so naive.
Learn your lesson.
Laurie
Haslet,Texas,
U.S.A.
Missing Information- But sounds like you allowed yourself to be scammed.
#8Consumer Comment
Thu, November 06, 2008
You did not state how you got the check.
Were you expecting to receive it at all? Or did it come out of the blue?
Other than calling the "company" itself did you make any attempt to do any further research?
Like an internet search on on the company or keywords based on the instructions you were sent? Like Lottery scams or mystery shopping scams.
there are lots of reports for both right here on ROR, some who have been scammed and others who are reporting it as an alert to others.
You did state that you followed the instructions you were provided
Did you wire transfer any of that money back to someone else as part of the instructions?
Based on what little information you did provide sounds like you allowed yourself to be scammed on a Mystery Shopping Scam or Lottery Scam.
You fell for a classic scam and just assumed it was legitimate. People like you are exactly who these SCAMMERS want! People who do not stop to think - just react to FREE MONEY! Usually it is people who cannot afford to pay the money back.
Even here on ROR homepage under Consumer Alerts - never cash checks you did not expect to recieive and never wire transfer money to anyone you do not know.
Yes - You have to pay the bank back! And you have no one to blame but yourself for it.
Lottery Scams - NO legitimate Lottery will send you money to pay your taxes with -those will be removed from your winnings before any checks are sent.
Mystery Shopping - No company is going to blindly send checks to people in hopes that they will carry out the instructions.
As a Mystery Shopper myself - you have to "APPLY" for Mystery Shopping jobs, AND you have to be affiliated with legitimate Mystery Shopping Programs.