tommyboy Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 As many of you know, Rachel is in school. We applied for a grant about a month ago, and deposited the check about 2 weeks ago. It was from grants for moms. It turns out that the check was a fake/fraud/scam. Our account is now -650 due to the bad check. The bank's saying there is nothing they can do, and the number for the grant company has been disconnected; so we can't contact them. I'm not accepting the fact that the bank can't do anything. Does anyone have any advice on how to, if it's at all possible, to get our money back? Thanks guys. I really need some advice/help here. I've never had anything like this happen to me before......................... I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS!!!!!! [:@] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klipsch Employees Trey Cannon Posted February 19, 2009 Klipsch Employees Share Posted February 19, 2009 I don't know that I can help, but I would think the cops have a dividison that takes care of scams. I wish you be best of luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colterphoto1 Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 your State Attorney General or the State AG from wherever the grant place is from. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Shmoe Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 I don't know that I can help, but I would think the cops have a dividison that takes care of scams. I wish you be best of luck. Not to make light of the situation... but I think Trey has something else on his mind? lol That is terrible Tommy.... follow up with what Michael said. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oscarsear Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 I am a little confused. Did you receive grant money and their check was not good or did you pay somebody something and was taken? If you wrote good checks relying on a bad check for funds to cover them I do not know what can be done other than the bank actually converting the owed balance into a short term loan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sputnik Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 Who wrote the check? Get the check from your bank (they should work with you to cover the resulting overdraft) and contact the bank/institution it was drawn from and see what they can do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sputnik Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 There are lots of scam grant agencies out there. Did you pay anyone a service fee or anything like that to get a grant? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigStewMan Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 i would have thought that the bank's fraud division would have been helpful. i'd definately be contacting either the police or D.A. right away. they also may be able to tell you about any possible things you can do to get your money back--i'm sure they have dealt with this kind of thing many times. if the banks are anything like insurance companies, they won't go out of their way to help you if it will mean they have to pay. maybe there is a forum member that is a bank employee and can provide some guidance. check with your military legal office. i had an issue when i was on active duty, and the coast guard legal office was more than happy to intervene on my behalf--best part, it was free legal representation. it really sucks what happened to you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael hurd Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 Sorry to hear that happened to you Tommy. I have heard of similar scams, where a certified check is mailed to you, you deposit in your account, and you send a portion to someone else for shipping a product you are selling. ( like a car ) These fake certified checks are so good, that the bank will say it's good, and put money in your account. You then send money to someone else, and in about a month and a half goes by, when your bank mails that check to the issuing institution, it is realized this is a fake. Unfortunately, your bank says too bad, so sad, and withdraws the funds from your account. Isn't it about time that your bank actually is accountable for something? Make a big stink, talk to your local branch office, ( nicely ) record your conversations, times, dates, etc. When you get no resolution, move up the ladder a rung. Involve the police department, U.S. post office, and anyone else that will listen. Call the newspaper and local television office, recount your story, I am sure it will make for interesting news. Banks do not like negative publicity. Be prepared to take your business elsewhere, including loans. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael hurd Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 Not accepting the fact that the bank said they simply can't do anything about it is a good thing. There are far to many people that are docile and are willing to take the lumps that someone else passes on to them. It is your bank's fault for allowing you to draw funds on it. Therefore, do not sit on the side lines like 99% of the 'SHEEPLE' in this world... DO something about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toddvj Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 What's the point of giving someone a fake grant? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daddy Dee Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 Tommyboy, Really sorry to hear this. How did the scam work? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tommyboy Posted February 19, 2009 Author Share Posted February 19, 2009 Here's how it works........ to the best of our, and the Sheriff's office knowledge. You apply for the grant through college.us.com. There are a lot of grants to choose from, and she chose grants for moms. The grant check came in the mail; so we deposited it on Jan 30. Our bank never made the money available, as the check hadn't been cashed yet. Now this is where we are getting confused about how they actually got the money. Seeing as the bank never made the money available and all. The Sheriff's dept thinks that it goes something like this. Once you cash that check, some how, some way the "cons" have access to your account. Whether the cash was cashed or not. Don't ask me how they would get that info from depositing a check, but that's what they think. So, the bank is trying to figure out where exactly the money went, or who, took it out. They're calling us tomorrow with an answer, and at that point, we can do the police report. The sheriff also said that 9 out of 10 banks have to reimburse you for any fraudulant stuff; so hopefully ours isn't the one that doesn't do it. This has TOTALLY caught us off guard. We've been receiving grant checks for about 6 months now, and this is the first one that was a "fony" check. So, if they don't reimburse the money, we may be in a world of hurt with paying for the next semester of school...... I'll let you now what we find out tomorrow......... Thanks for all the kind words!!! The world would be a lot better off without theives!!! ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DU73 Posted February 19, 2009 Share Posted February 19, 2009 good luck with it Tommyboy. I hope you have a favourable outcome. it must be very frustrating for you and family. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tommyboy Posted February 19, 2009 Author Share Posted February 19, 2009 Dude, to say the least! This morning, I put my HK amp and Marantz cd player up for sale; thinking I was going to get an Adcom amp. At about lunch today, when the bank called, I realized that I still needed to sell these two items, but the Adcom will have to wait.............. On top of that, we had to cancel our puppy's vet appt for tomorrow, and little man was supposed to start daycare on the first. Well, along with the money they took, is the vet and daycare money! We have pet insurance, but you pay up front, and they reimburse you a week later................... I'm trying to stay optimistic, and hopefully we get our money back. I have a saying I use at work a lot, and this time I really mean it. "Hope for the best, but expect the worst"........... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Groomlakearea51 Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 Also contact the State Attorney's Office. Take a copy of the SO report with you; also you may be eligible for victims compensation which is handled out of the State Atty's Office. Don't wait for them to "call" you. You need to get an appointment with the bank manager in regards to why they allowed access to your account after they told you that the money was never made available, and what they are going to do. You can also call the Atty General's office in Tallahassee and see what they are doing about the scams in general. Always document with whom you speak and what they tell you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michael hurd Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 It would be a good idea to record the conversation as well. Advise up front that you MAY be recording the conversation. For instance, my Canon digital camera will record continuously until the 2gig SD card is full if I put it on video mode, turn it on and put it in my jacket pocket. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oscarsear Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 This is scary. If they gleaned the information they needed to access your account from your bank then the bank is liable. It is their procedures and their responsibility to protect the information of their customers. Somewhere in you account contract it covers what information they can share about you. I can assure you it does not include handing out this data to any old person. They have a security problem and you followed all of their rules. Get the manager or regional on the tele and nail them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daddy Dee Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 Tommyboy, Others have mentioned this above, but this is a huge security hole in the banking system. If there is some way the bad guys can get someone to deposit a fraudulent check which ends up revealing the bank acount info to the bad guys, that's a big deal. Dang. I would think it wouldn't be too hard for the bank to track the unauthorized transactions to your account. I think that the bank would have some responsibility for giving away your money to a criminal. They won't want to own it though, for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seti Posted February 20, 2009 Share Posted February 20, 2009 Do you know any lawyers? Gather all info you can. It may be worth an hour or two of an attorneys time. Sometimes it is the only way to get things done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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