I sell Cosmetics through a company out of my house. I received an email about some lady wanting to buy some products so she gave me her order. I waited for the check in the mail and waited for it to be clear in my checking account before placing the order. (I check my account daily). When I checked my account a week later it had said that the checks were deposited in my account so I processed the order. The same lady placed two more orders in the next two weeks the same way. I did what I did before, deposited the checks, waitied for them to be in my account then ordered her merchandise. After I placed three orders for this lady and three-four weeks after all of this I get a call from my bank saying that the account on the bottom of the check can not be located so they took all three checks out of my account making me a $-2,000.00 in my account. Can I sue my bank for telling me that the funds were placed in my account and then it took them three-four weeks AFTER to realize the checks were fake that I am resonsibly when I clearly have my statements stating the checks were cleared and put into my account?

Nope... sometimes a fraud issue takes time before its discovered... and the bank does reserve the right to take back any funds that were fraudulent.

Your only option is to file a lawsuit against the woman, and contact the police and post office since it is now a Federal Crime as the post office was involved, the crime being Mail Fraud (a felony), among others. I would do so ASAP.

No, you can't sue your bank. When you checked your account did you actually call and speak to say the branch manager who verified that the particular checks were cleared or not? Just listing them as being deposited are not the same thing. Sometimes it takes banks time to figure out things when it comes to fake checks. You need to change the way you do business in accepting checks and only accept cashier's checks or money orders.

Did they say the checks had CLEARED or were deposited? There's a difference.

My bank accounts show two balances - one with cleared checks, one without.

It's important to know how the checks were "listed" in order to know how to proceed.

Some people have accounts where deposited checks are cleared before being processed through the system. So no, you can't sue over this. You may be able to recover any fees charged because of this.

I would strongly suggest that you use a check service that can vet checks for you or use Paypal or credit card processing.

Everyone has already given you accurate answers, but I just wanted to add this info from the FTC website:

You and Your Bank — Who is Responsible for What?


Under federal law, banks must make funds available to you from U.S. Treasury checks, official bank checks (cashier’s checks, certified checks, and teller’s checks), and checks paid by government agencies at the opening of business the day after you deposit the check. For other checks, banks must similarly make the first $100 available the day after you deposit the check. Remaining funds must be made available on the second day after the deposit if payable by a local bank, and within five days if drawn on distant banks.

However, just because funds are available on a check you’ve deposited doesn’t mean the check is good. It’s best not to rely on money from any type of check (cashier, business or personal check, or money order) unless you know and trust the person you’re dealing with or, better yet — until the bank confirms that the check has cleared. Forgeries can take weeks to be discovered and untangled. The bottom line is that until the bank confirms that the funds from the check have been deposited into your account, you are responsible for any funds you withdraw against that check.

Long story short... just because the funds are there doesn't mean the check actually cleared. Even certified checks can have the same issue. As Scott mentioned, a check verification service is a great idea, and will cover you if you run into a rubber or fraudulent check.

Everyone has already given you accurate answers, but I just wanted to add this info from the FTC website:

You and Your Bank — Who is Responsible for What?



Great research. I wasn't aware that was FTC rules. I think that is something the Nigerian scammers rely on.

You can and should sue the person who wrote you the stolen or fraud checks. ( this is a common problem with sales on craigslist now a day) The either steal real check numbers or make fake ones. The checks process though the system, but when they finally in a few weeks get to the bank they are written on for payment, or even a month latter for stolen numbers, they bounce on you.

That is your risk for accepting checks.

Assuming they are in the US, you should have a valid address for them, ( unless you mailed them to a PO box or shipped it to a Mail Box Store where they use fake names and ID to set up mail boxes to receive stolen goods.
So sue them and press criminal charges against the person who did this.

Did OP answer my question? Did the bank say the checks had CLEARED?

The checks being deposited in the account and funds being available does not mean the check has cleared. The OP's bank would not have cleared the check,the issuing bank does that. I doubt the statement says that the check was cleared by the issuing bank, it simply shows the check a deposited and with available funds in the balance. Hopefully, understanding FTC rules about how quickly funds from checks become available will help the OP to avoid this in the future. Scammers rely on funds becoming available before checks clear to ply their trade.

The checks being deposited in the account and funds being available does not mean the check has cleared. The OP's bank would not have cleared the check,the issuing bank does that. I doubt the statement says that the check was cleared by the issuing bank, it simply shows the check a deposited and with available funds in the balance. Hopefully, understanding FTC rules about how quickly funds from checks become available will help the OP to avoid this in the future. Scammers rely on funds becoming available before checks clear to ply their trade.


I know - that's why I answered the way I did and asked the question(s) I asked.

I asked specifically what the Bank said - cleared, not cleared, something in between. If the bank made an error and said the check had cleared when it had not, then the OP has a "case." Otherwise, no.

Our OP hasn't been back with additional info, but I hope that she found everyone's contribution to be helpful with both her current situation and future sales.

Judy, if the bank listed the check as cleared when it wasn't, would she have a case against her bank or the bank on which the check was drawn? Her bank would have gotten their info from them.

OP's direct connection is HER bank. She has no relationship with the "other" bank. She sues (or files a claim) against her bank. They bring in the third party.

Being my wife has been in Banking for over a decade according to her... the Banks do have the legal right to take back any funds deposited that are later determined to be fraudulant in nature. Stolen, bounced, fake checks and money orders, even cash deposits if found to be counterfeit. Even deposits accidentally credited to a wrong account in error by the bank.

She's had to do it a number of times over the years...

The other woman committed mail fraud with the OP as the victim which is a Federal crime... why should the bank be expected to pay the costs? They are just a third party in all of this that had no real part in the fraudulant transaction. The real issue is between the OP and the customer. And she should deal with it as such. The police should be notified, as well as the Post office. They do take this seriously.

Honestly though, unless she was wholesaling these to another retailer, what woman spends that kind of money on cosmetics via the mail at one time? That alone was raising all kind of flags in my mind. They all have experation dates.

The women I know with that kind of money get the stuff over the counter at a high end store, and do so because they have a business relationship with a specific sales person they trust. But that's small quantities of very expensive cosmetics, not huge volumes of less expensive ones.

So, if she were successful against her bank, they could then attempt to recover from the other bank?