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Home >> Scams/Fraud
Bank Holds Check; Check is Fraud; I am Sued
I went to my bank with a cashier's check for $4,494. I asked the teller if the check was real. She said the bank would hold the check for ten days or until it cleared. Well, three weeks later, I am told the check is a fraud. Just because I trusted my bank to look into a check written for so much before putting almost five grand into my account, I am going to be sued for the money. How is this right? I did not write the check or take out a loan. I was scammed too.
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 Actually, you have a lot of company. The law governing liability for fraudulent checks is part of the Uniform Commercial Code. It is not a consumer-protection law. Instead, it is designed to place the responsibility for losses with the party dealing with a fraudster or scammer. In fact, the law is designed to encourage the negotiation and collection of checks. At its very roots, the law protects persons who innocently accept and give value for a check or other negotiable instrument, in order to encourage those persons to continue accepting such instruments in commerce, as payment or for deposit.
Any person who transfers a check to another person and receives value for it, provides a warranty relating to signatures on it. Anyone who endorses a check gives a warranty that he or she will pay the amount of the check if it bounces. That's true whether or not you've already withdrawn and spent all or part of the funds. That leaves you responsible for that check, unless you or the police can identify the scam artist that gave it to you and recover from him or her.
Published on BankingQuestions.com 3/16/09
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