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Home >> Scams/Fraud
I was scammed. What do I owe?
I have been trying to find a roommate for a few weeks now. I tried doing it online after other resources were exhausted. A person contacted me saying he was interested and even went as far as to send someone to look at the apartment. I'm guessing they gave me a fake name, and they definitely gave me a fake phone number. A few days later, they sent me a check by mail. It looked like a real check, so I deposited it. I paid a few bills that day with the money that had been credited to my account, but not all of the money sent in the check. [Omitted from this narrative is the fact that the check the writer received by mail came back unpaid, presumably as counterfeit.]
Will I be responsible to pay the whole amount of the check or just the portion of it used? My bank closed my account and told me they would not re-open it because of this. What can I do about this? I really need a bank account.
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 Make no mistake about it, you were scammed. This is a favorite of scam artists that wait patiently for roommate ads.
When the check was returned unpaid, your bank charged it back to your account, creating an overdrawn balance. That amount, plus fees, is the measure of what you now owe the bank.
Once you have paid off the bank, you can ask again if it will reconsider and allow you to re-open the account (promising, of course, to learn from this unhappy incident). There's no guarantee, and the bank may not even consider such a request, but you can try. If you aren't successful, try opening an account in another area bank or credit union.
Published on BankingQuestions.com 7/30/09
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