Fake cashiers check Nigerian Car Scam and Bank regulations question!?

Question

Hello
Ive had a relative get scammed out of 20K by a Nigerian. SHe was selling her car on autotrader and someone wrote her saying that he was an American agent of a Nigerian citizen who was interested. However the Nigerian was going to send 1 check to my relative in the amount of 20K and she was suppose to send the rest to the Agent as part of the commission. So a cashiers check arrives in 2 days and it looks genuine (water mark and everything) and she takes it to the bank. After 1 day she withdrew 7K to send to wire to the agent. 3 Days later the bank calls and is threatening to arrest her for fraud, they seize her accounts, her mothers accounts, and put a lein on her car. They hold all these things as collateral for the 27 K "loan" until she repays it. On top of it all the loan is at a rediculous APR, and they never gave any type of proof! Obviously it was a fake check but the bank never once tried to do anything judicial. Is there anything she can do, shes only 21!

Answer 1

Not really.

Answer 2

Below where I say "you" ... substitute name of your relative or whoever this happened to

There are several things you need to do, and do them as rapidly as possible. If you are not in the USA you will need to contact the corresponding organizations in your nation, such as the British serious fraud office http://www.sfo.gov.uk/

* Keep a log of all conversations you have with the authorities and financial people about this situation
* Make a police report ... from the police, get a case #
* Make a report to the Secret Service ... include the case # from local police
* Notify all 3 credit bureaus that you have been victimized and need to put a hold on your credit before you get victimized again ... give them the case # from local police
* Make a statement of the facts to the bank involved, and include case # from local police & send a copy of that statement to the 3 credit bureaus, because otherwise they are advertising that you are some kind of crook
* 100% of the bank accounts you had with that bank are now at risk of being attacked by the Nigerian crooks ... as you get your financial life back together, you will need to have all new accounts
* Make a report to auto trader
* Contact the insurance company that you use to insure your property from financial crimes ... you do have such a policy don't you? I pay $ 40.00 a year for mine ... include the case # from the local police ... if you do not have such a policy, I suggest you get one ASAP, because your troubles are only beginning
* You might want to extend the time to get answers here another 3 days

While some people say you should contact the FTC or FBI about this, the government agency in the USA in charge of dealing with this particular kind of crime is the Secret Service. They protect the President and the Treasury ... our banking system, our currency.

I suggest you find the closest federal building to where you are located, and go to the Secret Service in person
http://www.secretservice.gov/field_offices.shtml
http://www.secretservice.gov/contact_fcd.shtml
http://www.secretservice.gov/faq.shtml

If there is no Secret Service office near where you live, then instead locate the nearest district office of US Attorne General ... you make your report there ... tell them you are a victim of the advance fee fraud. Provide the local police case #, and all details of the mess you now are in.

There are a ton of crooks out there in the real world, and in the Internet world.

Here is a link to information about the Nigerian scam, which has morphed into a bunch of other variants like what happened to you
http://www.knujon.com/depscam.html

Here are the 3 credit bureaus
http://www.equifax.com/home/
http://www.experian.com/
http://www.transunion.com/

The FTC can help guide you in dealing with the mess.
They can do nothing to extricate you from it.
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/consumer.shtm

If your relative has sent the 7k wire, cannot get that back.

It sounds to me like the 20k could not clear because it was fraudulent, so your relative owes the bank the 7k you took out, plus any interest and charges for being involved in a fraud, knowingly or not knowingly.

It does not matter to the bank whether your relative knew it was a scam ... a phony check got deposited. Under banking laws, you get to withdraw a portion right away (the 7 k) and must wait for the 20 k to clear before you can access it all ... so it looks very suspicious to the bank that you deposited a phony check, and withdrew the max against it.

However, the 7k wire transfer may have given the crooks enough info about your account to take more than 7k from your account.

The bank does not know which of your assets are real, and which are part of the fraud it thinks you are perpetrating, so it is seizing all that it cam. This is another reason why you should not do all your banking business with one bank.

When you use a credit card, debit card, checking account etc. you have some financial protection against such shenanigans ... if you report the problem promptly, you only stand to lose the first $ 50.00 of the fraud against you, the banks take the rest of the loss, but your relative did not use a credit card, used raw bank transfers, which do not have that kind of protection.

However, I am in the process of paying down all my credit cards and closing my credit card accounts, because computer breaches from non-Internet places is at epidemic proportions.

This can get much worse if you do not act swiftly.
More of your financial assets can be swallowed up.
Your life can be at risk.

This is the international mafia you are now in bed with.

Answer 3

She needs to talk to the police, and possibly the FTC about being the victim of the Nigerian scam. She needs to learn how to recognize scams.

She should be able to get out of it, but she put herself in a terrible legal position by not knowing better. It's very hard to get out from under this scam.

Answer 4

the bank has no cause against who wrote the check, but with the person depositing it. unfortunately, she should not have used any of the money until the check cleared. had she waited, they would have simply reversed the deposit in her account. and the only way they would "sieze" her mothers accounts, is legally, if her name is on the account. i am sorry this happened to them, but it is not the banks fault. why should the bank pay for her getting scammed?

Answer 5

To report fraud directly to the Federal Trade Commission, call 1-877-FTC-HELP, or go to http://www.ftc.gov.

----------------------------------
Always Remember this : All spam emails are scams.
my Advice: Don't deal with anyone from a foreign country or Accept checks from strangers and never use wire/bank transfer services.. you
risk losing your $$ and your mind.

Answer 6

I would get a lawyer.

You may also be able to get a politician to help too. Nigerian scams are becoming a big issue, and many legislators, governors and other politicians are trying to make a name for themselves by helping with consumer protection. At least write your senator.