[jieman168]

I received a cheque of 3000 pounds from a potential customer who claims to buy my used goods (worth £120). I deposited it in the bank,waited for 8 days (The bank promised 5 days to clear) and I found it available in my account. Feeling safe, I withdrew the amount of 2800 (after the fee and charge) and sent it via) Western Union to the third party as requested and then the next day it was bounced so I lost all my savings in my account and owe 1700 to the bank. The complained to the Ombudsman but they arrived at disappointing conclusion and now the bank pused me to repay the amount. Is it fair? And I have no money now but card debt.I wish to go to court but it seems that I may fail again. What can I do?

[AtlantaTaxExpert]

In the United States, you would have NO CASE in court.

This is a pretty common scam that uses high-quality forged checks and counts on the inherent delay in checks clearing in banks worldwide.

In my opinion, there is nothing to do but report the case to the police.

[Curlyben]

Congratulations you have been well and truly SCAMMED!!

There's no one you'll be able to get to answer for this as they are completely fly by night.

A good point to remember is that if an offer sounds too good to be true it probably is!

[ScottGem]

I would double check with the bank and ask why the money was listed as available. The bank should not have listed the money that way until the check actually cleared. You should have also made sure the bank certified the check as cleared before using the money.

If the bank indicated the money was available, they I would think they have some liability here.

[wynelle]

Sorry, but this sounds like a version of the Nigerian e-mail scam.

Someone offers to buy something, sends in a check that is significantly higher than necessary, then says "Oh, you can mail me back the difference." But it is a fraudulent check, and under good scrutiny, it fails to clear.

Unfortunately, these scams depend on the gulability and the greed of the recipient. You've been taken. Your bank should also take this up with the federal authorities.

[Fr_Chuck]

Hello, this is what is called a scam. They do this to cheat you.

If they were "buying" something for you, why did you send them money back??

They will either send you a bad check or even a forged money order. And they will normally do this on a foreign bank, so while yes normally a bank from your own state clears in 4 to 6 days, if the bank is from overseas it can take a couple weeks to clear, esp if it is not a bank that uses normal clearing houses. These crooks know it..

So they tell you that you are going to collect money for them, keep a part of it, and send them the balance. This is a very well known and famous scam that has been going around for years.

Next of course if you really did sell something why did you collect 3000 for something worth 120. Did not some bell go off that this was some scam? But if you want and tell us more about exactly what the people told you, and the such, we can tell you which scam type it was

And there is no one to take to court, the people who did this are most likely in Africa somewhere, or south america, And that is why they use western Union, they can collect the money anywhere, have them look at where the money was received at, Not where you sent it, Once you send it out,it can be picked up anywhere.

There is no way to find them, no way to sue them. You are lucky, here in the US, if you don't pay the bank back, they can also charge you with criminal charges