Robert
Irvine,#2Consumer 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,#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.