Being Scammed

It has been a couple of years now but I was scammed by someone who sent me a letter and a check saying that I had won this lottery. Everyone who I told said not to do it that it wasn't for real. But I thought since I had played freelotto online that this was ligit. I even checked out the bank to make sure that the bank was for real before I took the checks to my bank. The bank was for real so I took the checks to my bank and the bank cashed them. I figured if the bank would nowif they were not ligit, but they did not until after the checks were cashed. So much for the bank watching out for you. I then western unioned the money to someone in washington. The first check was for $2300.00 the next one was for $3500.00 now out of all this money I saw about $200.00 and in the end I owe the bank over $7000.00 because I had outstanding transactions that did not get paid and there was the overdraft fees. Now I have also been scammed letely by the company I worked for. In April I was pulled out of work on disability and since then someone has been fraudlently putting money into mine and my boyfriends checking account. I would get emails on our balance and we would use what we thought was our money. It turns out that it was not our money and it is being investigated on how this happened. So once again we will be paying back money. So it seems that you have to becareful in everything that you do because the bank does not really watch out for you.

I am very sorry to hear that. Thanks for sharing your story, I hope someone will see it and realize they are being scammed in time.

Cheques are tricky. The bank will give you what they call 'usual reserve'. You give them the cheque and they will give you the money for this cheque. A lot of people think this means the cheque is 'good' and it has been cleared, but cheques are sent to the clearing after you receive the usual reserve. At the clearing the bank can find out the cheque is fake, or was never issued, or reported stolen or anything else that will keep the clearing from actually clearing them. Usually the cheque is presented three times, unless it is an outright forgery or the cheque was reported stolen. After three fails the cheque is sent back to the remitting bank. By then, you probably have the money wired over WU already

The criminals use the little knowledge people have about cheques to their advantage. If you are not aware of the above information, it is very logical for you to think the cheque is good when your own bank gives you the money. Tellers hardly ever feel the need to inform you that the cheque is not cleared yet, they assume that since you use cheques you are aware of the dangers of cashing them.

In some countries cashing bad cheques is even a criminal offense and you could even find yourself in legal trouble. Luckily, more and more banks inform their customers and will not pay out unless the cheque is fully cleared. And cheques are more and more replaced by electronic banking.

This does not take away that what happened to you is awful. I am so sorry to hear your story and sincerely hope your post could save someone from making the same decision. Best of luck to you!

In addition to what Anna said above, many scammers, once they have your account information, will "flash" your account which temporarily inflates your balance.

Your best bet would be to change your bank account if at all possible. Your bank should be amenable to this given the fraud that has occurred.

Tamara, welcome to ScamWarners, and thank you for sharing your story with us. I am sorry to hear you got scammed, and I am sure it is not an easy thing to admit ,but posting about it helps to alert others to the dangers, so well done.

Great advice and information already from Anna and Colin, so I will just add that it never hurts to try talking to your bank, and asking if they will come to some kind of arrangement about an outstanding debt as a result of a scam. You may get lucky and find a sympathetic ear, and you lose nothing by trying.

Tamara, welcome, and my condolences on your losses. These thieves are deceptive, tricky and downright cruel.

Thank you so much for posting your story, as I would hope it helps someone who may have fallen victim to similar. What I just wrote in another thread with regarding to these:

Among the Red Flags anyone receiving an email informing them of Winning a Lottery:

* Ask yourself, How can you win a lottery you never entered?

* There are no email lotteries. Your email address was one of many thousand who "won"

* There is a format of a lottery scam I have seen that uses the name "Microsoft" ~ and possibly other reputable companies. No, huge corporate companies are not ready to hand out their hard earned profits for some random promotion or any other creative idea the scammer makes up.

* In a real lottery, you do not have to pay to receive your winnings.

-Winning a lottery from a foreign country is very unlikely ~ if any possible in the first place.

* If there is any reason to doubt, come to site such as here at Scam Warners, and those of us who see these things on a regular basis at a minimum can give you reassurance that you're not missing out on collecting anything.

Something I'm going to add here: Any legit lottery, sweepstakes or otherwise certainly will never ask for payment by western union.

In your personal case Tamara, where you were playing a freelotto online, I can certainly see where you mistook it as being the winnings for you. You are so right in how the banks don't really watch after you.

While getting the mess of the scam cleared up, definitely make a new bank account to use for your legit personal daily basis until you are able to close the other.