ScamVictimsUnited.com

I cannot believe what is going on! My husband and I have been scammed in a counterfiet check scheme. We were trying to sell our bike online and TOLA SMITH responded as a "shipper" to a Bill and Anita Scott, who were supposedly trying to purchase our harley. The counterfeit check showed up 5 months after we had talked about the bike. We didn't even know who it was from! After going through some emails, we found Bill and Tola's emails and asked them if it was them. They replied it may have been and that since we had the check they were still interested in the bike. We deposited the check...mind you it was for $9650.00 into our account. Only to find 6 days later that it was counterfeit!!! I am currently $4000.00 in the negative in my account, I am 8 months pregnant and we have a 2 year old at home. We live paycheck to paycheck so you can just imagine what we are going through! I cannot believe that we were SO stupid to fall for this! And now, the bank is coming after us for the 4k that went through. The part that sucks the most is I wired $2986.00 to Tola on the 16th of June. So we really fell for the scammer. We have no idea what we are going to do. We cannot afford the payments the bank is proposing...and if we do...then we cannot pay our bills....just sad. What I don't understand is why banks are not held LIABLE for releasing funds to you when they have not even cleared the check yet?!?!? Ya know what I mean? Thats what we are dealling with right now. So...if ANYONE has any information that could help us, we would really appreciate it!! Good luck to anyone going through the same...I feel ya...for sure.

fidgetbug...

I know what you are going through and I feel for you deeply. Consult an attorney asap about this, the bank cannot require you to pay all that you have until a debt is cleared up they can only take a certain percentage of pay. They cannot put you in a position to starve your family or wind up homeless. Most attorneys will give a free consultation see what he/she has to say about how to handle the situation.

I want you and your husband to sit down and put on paper the following:

Your total combined income each month
How much is your rent and utilities per month?
How much is child care per month?
How much do you spend on things your child needs every month?
How much do you spend monthly on groceries, gasoline , etc

Then subract the expenses from your income to show your net total

Take what the bank wants from you from that and show the atty the damage that will do to your family.

STOP this instant in kicking yourselves in the teeth for what happened, it has happened to countless thousands of other people and these scammers are darn good at looking innocent and honest, they know what to say, how to act, when to tweek the psychological ploys to keep victims hooked, you are not alone and you should be focusing your anger at the ones who did this to you.

Above all else take care of YOU, you are pregnant and you should not be stressing out like this, if the stress begins to affect you negatively make sure it becomes a matter of record with your doctor immediately. This could help you in the future concerning the bank issue.

The bottom line is that you owe the bank for what you did send to the scammer and spent, there is no getting around this issue, BUT stressing out will not make matters any better. Think clear , remain as calm as can be and clearly and as lucid as possible show the bank that they have to come up with better terms as this will not happen , they cannot by law force you to starve your family or become homeless. Tell them you are willing to work something out but it has to be an arrangement that you can comfortably afford to adhere to, not one that will place your family in jeopardy.

I understand what your saying. The bank has been nice about it...they have offered to give us a loan...interest free for 18 months. However...that is $211.00 per month for 18 months!! We just cannot do it. My husband has 3 children from a previous marriage...they are 16, 13 and 11. And his paycheck right now isn't very much b/c of the child support. Plus he had to quit his job at the post office in January...and was jobless for one whole month which really put us in the whole. We were just slowly trying to climb out of the whole and now we are right back at the bottom again. It is a good thing my hubby and I have a strong marriage or else we would fall apart. I am trying not to stress but it is hard. I know I have a baby coming in less than 7 weeks...I cannot get approved for WIC (program that helps with food and formula) , so it is a little hard to not stress!!! But we are trying. I really appreciate your response and your encouragement! And I will do what you have suggested re: the bank and attorney...see what happens! Hey...maybe I will play the lotto...win the mega millions...and shre with everyone on here that has been scammed!! Wouldn't that be a treat?....take care Karyn...and thanks again...

Make sure you talk to the bank's work out department, the branch manager only has interest in getting the money repaid as fast as possible. Do the budget thing showing them on paper the damage the 211.00 per month payments will do. The work out dept are basically collectors they understand better the reality between push them and they could go bankrupt leaving us with nothing or work with them and get it paid, maybe slower but it will stay active on the books.