Legal Question in Criminal Law in Illinois

I recently deposited a check into my account for a friend of mine. They told me that they had recently done some work for a woman who had just bought a house and she wanted to pay him with a check. He didn't have an account at a bank and asked if I could deposit it for him and just give him the money once it cleared. I went to check my account and saw that there had been a stop payment on the check and that my account was debited for the amount of the check. Now I have to pay the bank back the amount for the check and I can't get in contact with this person. So it's starting to look like the woman's checks were stolen and he in turn wrote the check off her account for me to deposit, meaning that we both were scammed by him. I have no idea how he got ahold of her checks. What I need to know is are there any legal ramifications for me because I deposited the check believing that it was truly legit and written by this woman?


Asked on 5/25/11, 6:42 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Edward Hoffman Law Offices of Edward A. Hoffman

You're a victim here, not a criminal. You have to repay the money as you said, but you shouldn't be worried about a criminal prosecution -- unless the facts look very different to the authorities.

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Answered on 5/25/11, 7:59 pm


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