Consumer Fraud MySpace scam help needed

I was corresponding with someone who wanted to purhase car audio equip. I had for sale on Myspace. He was purchasing it for $320 and a check got sent for $2000, which he explained was made out by mistake by his accountant and could I please send the remainder of the money to his shipping agent. I waited for the funds to become available in my account before I did anything, about 4-5 days. I then sent $999.99 plus fees by Western Union to this person. I was then to send the rest of the mo ney the following Monday, but never got to it. I received a call from my bank Tuesday morning that the check was stopped and they removed the $2000 from my acount. I have heard that it is illegal for the bank to remove money from your account after funds have been made available, is this true? I filed a police report, they have copies of all emails, the Western Union info, and the check that the bank sent back to me, and I don't believe they are getting very far. This was all of my money and I need to get this money back because I owe rent, utility bills, car payment, much less gas to get to work (50 miles away) and groceries so I can eat. Is there anything I can do?

Oh no... You definitely fell victim to some scam artist. Your bank was allowed to recall the funds since there is no specific time window on when the funds should be considered available.

With all the info on these scams on the internet
people still get taken . . .

I worked for a credit union and yes even though they let the funds available you are still responsible. You were part of a very rising scam. The person never intended to pay for the item. It is a way to get free money. The problem is that when a check is written it takes time to process and even if it was a real check they may have had the money when they wrote the check but over spent and by the time it got to their bank it may not have been there. It happened to several members I knew. Although our bank sometimes would give the person a loan to make up for the lost money and tha way you could make payments instead of trying to come up with it all at once.

Not so fast. The original poster needs to contact the police. I have a family member in Indiana who is a police detective, and part of his area is fraud. He had a case just like this (the old Nigerian money order scam) and the bank ended up having to take the fall on this one, not the customer that deposited the money order. The reason is that the teller never put a hold on the funds. Check with the police and see, as there could be something similar in the laws in your state.

Guys, please don't trust people you just met in net.. Most of them are cheaters. I've been scammed too. So now i am afraid to trust those people i met in social networking sites like facebook, myspace and friendster..

tpajet said:

Not so fast. The original poster needs to contact the police. I have a family member in Indiana who is a police detective, and part of his area is fraud. He had a case just like this (the old Nigerian money order scam) and the bank ended up having to take the fall on this one, not the customer that deposited the money order. The reason is that the teller never put a hold on the funds. Check with the police and see, as there could be something similar in the laws in your state.

Click to expand...

Tpajet, the OP stated that 4-5 days later he was able to withdraw the funds, it is very possible that a hold was placed and released in the given amount of time.

I have been in banking for many years and have never seen the bank have to take a loss for a counterfeit item when the account holder made the deposit ~ sounds very strange to me.

I do agree, however that the OP should file a police report.

(thread is also *cough* over a year old *cough* )