Washington Mutual FRADULENT MONEY ORDERS ALLOWED DEPOSITED BY UNKOWN PERSON North Palm Beach Nationwide
After an ebay auction was won, the buyer was asked to wire money directly from their account to mine. However the suspect went to a NV branch to make 6 seperate depoits totaling $5050 in the form of money orders. No red flag came up the account that such strange activity in a seperate stae was being performed. WAMU then cleared the funds immediatley posting no info about the deposit leading us to believe the wire transfer was complete and funds were received. This then triggered us to send out the item won at auction. 11 days later, 6 seperate "returned items" fees were posted to the account.
After noticing this we called immediately to figure out what happened. We were given the run around and spoke to at least 6 different people as well as going into out local branch. After getting 3 different stories as to how the money was deposited, first a personal check, then they said one money order, now the final story seems to be six money orders. All of which were fake.
WAMU opened an investigation and after a whopping 2 hrs concluded they had no wrong doing in the situation and the money was a wash. Nothing lost to us the consumer. After they let someone make such a large transaction on a personal account and raised no red flags and made the funds available immediately, not even an hour holding period. So now we are the product plus all the fees that went along with the "returned items" and we are getting nothing but attitude and the run around. WAMU even gave a local law enforcement officer attitude on the phone while he was conducting part of his investigation. So WAMU does nothing to protect or help it's clients/consumers.
If you want good service and protection, WAMU is not the bank for you! If you want insane fees and easy access to your account by anyone.....sign up for their free checking!! You'll love watching your money get flushed away before your eyes and they'll do it with a smile!!
Urn
North Palm Beach, Florida
U.S.A.
2 Updates & Rebuttals
Robert
Irvine,California,
U.S.A.
Ummm...
#3Consumer Comment
Tue, March 24, 2009
You do realize that WaMu no longer exists, it is now part of Chase.
But even with that why would any red-flags be raised?
The person(s) had your account number, and I presume your name. So unlike your title states this person was not unknown to you. There is really no difference than someone wireing money into an account than going into a branch and doing a deposit. Except for the fact that that branch may have a video of them doing this. You didn't raise any "red flags" when the money showed up in your account, because you were expecting it. If the money was not expected you would have inquired.
What did you want them to do? The money was made available per the availability guidelines that banks must follow. Unfortunatly the scammers know that the funds will be made "available" well before these items comes back as bad. What if this money was put on hold and turned out to be legitimate. You would be here writing a RipOff Report on how they didn't make the funds available when they should have.
The simple fact is you got scammed by someone who use the government regulations to their advantage. With a 5K item, hopefully you weren't also dumb enough to send it to some generic PO Box or a foreign address or with no signature required. Because if you did there is no way you are going to be able to track this person down.
As I said the bank is required to make items such as money orders available long before they would come back as bad. This is why you must protect yourself. You NEVER give access to your account to anyone you don't know, especially someone who wants to wire money into your account. Banks are not going to babysit your account. If you ever sell other items, be very carefull on the funds you take. Also, if you ever get a person who sends you a form of payment and wants you to MoneyGram money back to them this is the more common form of the same scam.
John
Califon,New Jersey,
U.S.A.
Then don't use ANY bank/credit union. YOU were scammed by the 'buyer'.
#3Consumer Comment
Tue, March 24, 2009
Nothing would be any different at any other bank. Why didn't you just have the money sent straight to you?
Now, your account is compromised as you would have had to given them your account number to put the money in.
The bank did nothing wrong.