Legal Question in Banking Law in Virginia

A fake Check

I was contacted by some people who claimed they wanted to hire me for their association. I was given 3984 dollars in a check, i was to keep 300 as pay, 200 was to be spent on a ''mystery shop'' 184 was a fee to western union back 3300 to them. I was to do this in a week. I followed the directions and did the ''assignment'' The bank held the check for 6 days then released the funds to me. But after i completed the assignment, I went to the bank and found the Check hadn't gone through, it was returned and i now owed 4000 dollars. I had no idea i was being scammed. I need to know now if i could go to jail for something like this or do i have a chance at disputing it.


Asked on 8/09/08, 1:23 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Daniel Press Chung & Press, P.C.

Re: A fake Check

You were scammed by a common bad check scheme. No one should ever agree to cash a check and wire the money back. Your bank has to make the funds available at a certain point, but that does not mean the check is actually good. When it comes back, you owe the bank. You have a claim against the scammers, but that does not excuse your liability to the bank. You are not criminally liable - you did nothing illegal - but if you don't make it good, the bank can sue you and report this on your credit, and you will have a hard time opening a new account.

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Answered on 8/09/08, 1:35 pm


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