I gave someone a check for 367 dollars. They requested that I make the check out to their mother because they owed them money. I agreed because why not. A few weeks later the check hits my account and clears out 3367 bucks. He said he mailed it to his mother (across state lines) but she never got it. The numbers on the check were modified by adding a 3 and a comma before the amount. The written amount was modified by adding a t before the h and an o before the u. Changing three hundred and sixty seven to three thoundred and sixty seven. The image of the check makes it very easy to see that it was fraudulently amended. I called Wells Fargo (my bank) who told me that it was obvious fraud and that they would not give me a provisional credit for the amount, but they would go after Charles schwab (the bank that accepted the check) for reimbursement. I told them that they never should have honored such an obviously fraudulent check, but at the least, at the absolute minimum, they were legally only allowed to honor the amount of 3067. Not 3367. Therefore, I was insisting on an immediate provisional credit until the issue was settled. The transaction put my account heavily into overdraft and I was not only incurring overdraft fees by the minute, but I didn't even have money to buy food for my family. Upon hearing that, they changed their tune and said that there was no fraud. There was only a miscommunication between banks. The number 3367 was not the legal number and irrelevant (hence no fraudulent activity) and the word thoundred was not an attempt to defraud but only messy handwriting. Therefor the claim was closed out of fraud and sent to collections. Charles schwab is fighting the adjustment so I need to wait 90 to 120 days to maybe possibly get my money back. Even if I do get it back, it will only be the 3000 not the 367 as that is the legal and valid amount of the transaction. I'm at a complete loss. This is over days and days of fighting and yelling. Multiple people in multiple departments. Visiting a branch and sitting in the managers office for hours. This is a fucking nightmare that someone could steal from me, everyone knows, but no one is doing anything. Points of interest that matter : I filled an affidavit of fraudulent activity with WF that dead ended. I spoke to the mother, she had several items of mail stolen from her mailbox. She filed a report with the usps and the local police. My local police told me they can't do anything as the crime happened in NY not here. I spoke to Charles schwab bank and found out that the check was deposited into an account, not cashed. They won't give me any other information obviously. I spoke to a federal investigator from usps. He volunteered to give me a letter that said I'm a victim of fraudulent activity and have had my check stolen so that I can take it to Wells Fargo and force them to dispute entire thing and speed the process up. Unfortunately, he went back on what he said and wants to wait into Charles schwab responds to the subpoenas to find out whose account the check went into. It will take a month or two. I've Facebooked WF. They told me nothing and were no help beyond wasting my time. I emailed the board of directors and got no response. I emailed every dept of WF I could find and got nothing. I submitted multiple forms online the went no where. Not just WF but with the agencies that oversee banking in USA. It seems that I might need to just roll over and play dead while getting railed up the butt to the tune of 3k. I would love advice and concrete direction other than "dude, you should totally sue". Thanks for reading this wall of mine!
Submitted May 25, 2018 at 07:25PM by notshifrahtema https://ift.tt/2INGTUW
