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I met a woman at a casino who asked me to cash a check for her. I had seen her there before as she is a regular. She reasured me that all will be fine as she has over 30,000 in her savings which she said is linked to her checking(she even showed me the statement) When I asked her why she couldn't cash her checks or withdraw money she said her husband would know she was gambling again but if she wrote it to me he wouldn't know because he wouldn't be checking the bank records. So I agreed to this as she would give me 100 dollars for cashing the check for her. I was so stupid and nieve I even beleived when she told me the bank would not cash it if I didn't have the funds so I cashed a total of 8 checks for her in one weeks period totalling 15,000 dollars. I talked to the bank and found out I am responsible for paying this back which I did by borrowing the money from my family. I filed a police report but the police were hesitant to take the report telling me this is a civil matter. I then called and cancelled the report becasue when I contacted the woman who wrote me the bad checks she said if the police contact her she would lie and say I stole her checks. I was scared to death so when I called to cancel the police man said his supervisor said to file it anyhow. So now the report is in the fraud division with the detectives and I am so scared that when they question her they will beleive her. This woman is a compulsive gambler and liar. I've gotten alot of evidence such as her calling me to tell me she would repay me this money and she said the same thing to my mom. Also one day when she was at my house in that week she asked my ex husband to get money from the bank for her and she would write him a check. The problem is she only went into the bank with me once. I have all the dates and times of all the times I cashed the checks for her. She was always in her car waiting. I am very scared that I will be acused of a crime just based on her lying and saying I stole her checks. If anyone has any advice to offer besides telling me how stupid I was (believe me I know) I wish every day I could go back in time and tell this woman to get lost when she approached me but I cant. If anyone has any advice or knows the law please help.
Any advice would be appreciated. I am so scared I am going to be charged with something. I wish she could pay for what she's done but she has gotten off scott free. I am suffering so much because of this. Constantly worried.
Thank you.
If she's as bad (of a gambler) and as good (she conned you big time) as you say she is, then chances are you are not her first nor will you be her last victim.
I think it's good that the police filed that anyway, better for you to err and still have done your civic duty. Her threats of lying and saying you stole her checks are just to intimidate you into doing exactly what you did, run to the cops and say "oh, nevermind...silly me!"
If you could recognize her as a regular in the casino, just imagine how many times she's been videotaped or at least seen on surveillance cameras. Not to mention she would be known to the casino staff and other patrons. As I said above, chances are she has scammed someone else there and either the story hasn't circulated yet or they were too embarrassed to say anything about it.
Stay honest with the cops, I'd even alert the security staff at the casino...they'd be interested in someone else trying to cash in on money that should go to "their" tills. In the long run, she'll either disappear and this is a lesson very harshly learned, or they will catch her and be able to prosecute her. If she wrote out the checks, that's easy enough to prove in court...you should be okay.
If she signed the checks, and you saw her write and sign them, then she is the one who committed the fraud. Hopefully, they were really her checks. You may need to prosecute her and her husband to try to get a judgement against them so hopefully you can somehow get a lien against any assets they might have... I see you as a victim, and she is the one who wrote the bad checks, you did not stiff the bank so you wont be charged with that, but you may have to follow through to get charges filed against the woman for passing bad checks to you. I have known a number of people who served jail time for passing bad checks... I think she might get nailed for that, but since you have borrowed money to make sure that the checks were good on your account, you should not face any charges.
Find out how to have the police charge her with passing bad checks. You might not get any money back, but hopefully she will do some time. Don't let her intimidate you, as long as you didn't sign her name on any of the checks.
Also the detective I spoke to was not the friendliest guy in the world when I called he said you need to just wait for us to call you it may be a month and it may be a year. I said but this is so stressfull, I'm a single mom and this woman has ruined my life. He said we hear that alot your a single mom. So now I don't want to call but am dying to know what if anything is being done and am constantly scared. She wrote and signed every check and did it in front of me. I just want this behind me. Does anyone know how long an investigation like this could take and how long they have to follow up? I live in California.
Unfortunately it could take weeks, months and even years. It will just depend on how quickly they can build a case against her.
You did the right thing, you reported it, you cleared your part in it with the bank...until the police contact you to get more information or to identify her, you're done. You need to relax and not fret about it, it's not doing you or your child any good. Just learn from it, be much wiser in the future and cooperate with law enforcement. I would follow up, as oneguy suggested, with pursuing bad check charges against her if possible.
I appreciate your helping me I just wish I wasn't so scared. You said it could take years? How many years? The woman who did this also told her bank I stole her checks and the woman at her bank who I talked to said she is not filing charges. Why on earth would she say I stole her check book when she wrote the checks to me. That is the part that has me so scared. If the police beleive her I am charged with a felony. But I have copies of her checks and in court I am sure they can prove it is her handwriting and also I have all the dates and times the checks were cashed and hopefully the detectives will look at the surveilance tapes. She went into the bank with me once or twice. I'm just so scared. She has not gone to the police and said I stole her checks cause she knows she would then get discovered but she told her bank so her account would not be charged. This is so scary.
well of course the police will think you were a fool to do this and maybe even not beelive you at first, **** so what, tell them to take the donut out of their hand and write the ..... report.
You had money stolen from you, and you will never see it if you don't do something, the worst thing you did was to call and cancell the first report.
So you have to do two things, hire an attoreny and sue her in civil court, and go and file a police report on her fraud.
And you have to stop talking to her at all, if she calls and says anything except I have your cash, don't talk to her.
Her not going to the police should be in your favor because it would make your story more reputable because who on earth is going to claim their checkbook was stolen (and the whole situation) and not report it?
Perhaps your bank could help you learn about the process of pressing charges against her for passing the bad checks to you? They might know more about the california laws??? Find out what business might do if such a thing happens to them? I am sure it happens a lot!
I found the link below that mentions some California laws that might help you. You might have to file criminal charges for the checks and not just a report about the fraud??? Also sounds like you might have a civil case against her, and I do not know if all of the checks would be counted separately or lumped together???
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