One of the worst weeks of my life! (long) NO DISNEY, NO CAR, I WAS SCAMMED!

[Lisa_M]

I'm so sorry this happened to you OP. I found a similar scam when looking to rent a house. I replied to two ads and received two responses like the person was out of the country for some reason, one to africa, the other to England, blah blah blah. I don't know if I would have fallen for it, but because I got the two emails on the same day it really smelled of scam.

Also, at work I heard of a person wiring money and falling for a house rental scam like yours and mine. There are a lot of terrible people out there and it's disgusting that the police and FBI won't help you. What the hell do the hardworking people pay taxes for? To get raked over the coals and then be told, sorry we're too busy. Don't let them forget about you OP, even if you never get your money back.

I hope you can have a Merry Christmas anyway

 

[Va-bear]

Just .

I hate that people like this are out there and that more isn't being done to stop them. I will hope and hope and hope that your money is returned somehow. I understand why you are blaming yourself, but these guys are tricky, beyond words, and their brains work in ways our dont (and we should be thankful for that...) Again, I am so sorry.

 

[mrsklamc]

In regards to the story told
by Chris- if you agree to help defraud your fellow taxpayers you deserve what you get.

 

[allison443]

Here is another scam to watch for (this was related by a friend).

You are selling a car and you find someone who wants to buy the car. The buyer offers to pay full price but want the DMV documents to show you sold the car for 50% of the real price, so they can save money on the sales tax. They meet you at DMV to do the paper work and have two cashiers checks, one each for the 50% of the sales price.
They give you one cashiers check before and then you go complete the DMV transfer and then after all this is completed they refuse to give you the second check and they take off.

When you contact the police the buyer has a documented DMV sale price and a cashiers check receipt. So in order to file a police report you have to admit you commited fraud to the DMV (by putting a lower sales price).

Chris

Well I don't really feel bad for someone who was taking part in a tax fraud scam.

The OP wasn't trying to do anything illegal, so I do feel bad for the OP.

 

[ferrytale]

I went to my bank again this morning, still no word from the crooks bank. By the way the crooks bank at Bank of America in Las Vegas, NV., it looks like they have no interest in helping either, thank you very much!
Still no word from the FBI either, I called the main office this morning to see if the Internet Crimes Division has a phone number where they can be reached, since no one has answered my numerous emails, and I was told that they did not have a phone, and that they were overrun with reports of fraud and scams this time of year, and they would get to me when they could.
So it doesn't look good.
Again thanks to all of you who have posted, and sent PMs, with your ,, prayers, and kind words, and a very special thank you to one DISser for your email . You know who you are, nuff said.
And for those who only have harsh words, lets hope your family is never put in a tough situation. Hindsight is 20/20, I know I screwed up, believe me. But, I'm trying to pick up the pieces and move on the best I can.
I will keep you all posted if any more developments arise.

Can you maybe call your bank's fraud department or Bank of America's fraud department and explain the situation? Sorry, I don't have any better advice, this really sucks for you guys. I wish I could offer more than . Keep us updated and hopefully the culprit will get what is coming to them.

 

[muffyn]

This story is heartbreaking.

With routing and account numbers, there must be some way to find out who received the money - even if the account was emptied out right away. Have you heard back from your bank or the FBI? or, by chance - did the car show up?

Maddle

ya know its not just that.
in our case ( with the horse) we found out exactly who this person was. (by some lucky chance that it was started to be reported on a horse website & found with a search )
there were hundreds scammed..... but contacting the DA for that county, they didn't seem much to care. something about it being below $6500. <smart of crooks.... you have to show up in PERSON & file small claims & then hope person shows up,, which they don't , you'd win case, but you'd never get them to pay & they KNOW that > plus most transactions were from out of state & they had other more important things to prosecute.
it took a couple years for enough people to file & them to open a case. no one will ever get their money back. this person does not own anything in her name, but we can hope for jail.

to OP: I just feel so bad for your family, especially losing your diz trip.

1st make sure you contact the local police & DA of the city where your payment was cashed. file a report. you could get lucky there might be others who filed also. it will take many people for them to get it noticed. but it may be long shot since you may never find the person involved. (ours used a fake business name & PO box at a ups store for picking up stuff)
the govt. is starting to pay attention to these crimes since they cross state lines & involve the internet.
your crook probably has stolen from a LOT of people , just hope their victims will be as tenacious as you have been......

 

[MAKHayes-DisneyDiva]

OP - I'm so sorry! I hope you are able to get your $ back!
Thanks for warning us about the scam.

 

[Desnik]

OP, I am so, so, so sorry this happened to you! It makes me so angry that there are evil people out there that scam like this! I really hope you get some justice! It is so frustrating for me just sitting here reading how you are getting no help, I can't imagine what you must feel like! I will pray for your family that this will get resolved. Thank you for sharing your story.

 

[Stitch76]

UPDATE! Bear with me I need to vent some more!!
I tried calling the Bank of America branch Saturday since they did not contact my bank on Friday like expected, and the Wire Department was not in, so Today I called several times and finally after getting passed from person to person and being put on hold forever and a day. I got to talk to someone in the Wire Department. Her answer was talk to your bank. I told her I did talk to my bank and they had contacted Bank of America with no response. She informed me that they could not speak to ME since I did not have an account with them, and that they were very busy and someone would be in touch with my bank as soon as they could get to it.
Well guess what since my call, they finally "GOT TO IT!", and emailed my bank 5 minutes before closing this evening. The girl I had been speaking to at my bank called me and said that they got a response stating, "We are sorry we are unable to return the money, due to insufficient funds in the receipt's bank account."
Well DUH! If they had done something when they were first contacted instead of waiting a week, maybe something could be have been done.
And by the way, still waiting on the FBI:
Okay, Whew! Vent Over!

There I feel better, a little anyway.

 

[dhuba]

I appreciate you posting your heartbreaking story so others can avoid getting in this situation. I can't use the words I would like to describe the scumbag S.O.B.s who did this to you and your family.

 

[kfeuer]

OP, I am so sorry this happened to you. Everybody makes mistakes at one time or another, so don't beat yourself up. Just learn from it and make sure it never happens again. Have you thought about what you can do for transportation going forward?

 

[mrsklamc]

*not trying to start a debate, just may have some insight here*

I was thinking that Bank of America HAD to have records of where the money went. Then I remembered that back before politics were verboten on the DIS, there was a big argument thread about boycotting BOA because they would allow non-citizens to open bank accounts without social security numbers. It turned into a big immigration debate and let's not go there so no one gets points, but I'm just saying, that may be why they chose Bank of America- it MAY be that the money is less traceable that way.

 

[midwestdee]

I am so sorry for what you are going through. Last year, we were looking for a car for DS - we knew we would have to pony up for this - he just wasn't in a position to do so. Anyway, he gets on Craigslist and finds this "perfect" car - calls us and send us the link to the ad - there were palm trees in the backround, and believe me - there is nary a palm tree to be found in our neck of the woods. He had emailed this person who jumped right on it - we told him have NO contact - ignore emails, etc.. But believe me - he would have been snookered. There is special ring of Hades for people that pull these scams. I don't know if it is any consolation - but there are lots of us - who will be praying for some good to come your way, or out of your efforts to pursue this.

 

[GingerJay]

I went to my bank again this morning, still no word from the crooks bank. By the way the crooks bank at Bank of America in Las Vegas, NV., it looks like they have no interest in helping either, thank you very much!
Still no word from the FBI either, I called the main office this morning to see if the Internet Crimes Division has a phone number where they can be reached, since no one has answered my numerous emails, and I was told that they did not have a phone, and that they were overrun with reports of fraud and scams this time of year, and they would get to me when they could.
So it doesn't look good.
Again thanks to all of you who have posted, and sent PMs, with your ,, prayers, and kind words, and a very special thank you to one DISser for your email . You know who you are, nuff said.
And for those who only have harsh words, lets hope your family is never put in a tough situation. Hindsight is 20/20, I know I screwed up, believe me. But, I'm trying to pick up the pieces and move on the best I can.
I will keep you all posted if any more developments arise.

I am so sorry that this happened to you..no one deserves to be taken advantage of, or scammed...no matter what. You should definitely not give up in trying to get your money back. Best of luck and great big

 

[KibbyCat]

"We are sorry we are unable to return the money, due to insufficient funds in the receipt's bank account."
Well DUH! If they had done something when they were first contacted instead of waiting a week, maybe something could be have been done.

Why couldn't they have credited the money back to you, causing the Recipient's bank account to go in the red, then bill the crap out of him for overdrafting?! Seems like BoA can get money out of anyone, so they can afford to advance you the money that belongs to you and get it back from the SCUMBAG that stole it!

Earlier this year, someone at BoA stole my Dad's debit card number and used it to charge over $400 worth of computer equipment at Fry's.com. My mom found out when she logged on to do he online banking and saw three pening charges. Boa was NOT helpful at all, and basically just said their hands were tied. ("You can wait until the pending charges go through, then file a claim.")
Luckily, we were able to get Fry's to block the charges, so they never actually came out of the bank account. But you better believe they went that day and switched banks. So sad. And the person that stole the number? Who knows. Fraud department never got back with us to make a statement or file a claim.

 

[msmayor]

Why couldn't they have credited the money back to you, causing the Recipient's bank account to go in the red, then bill the crap out of him for overdrafting?! Seems like BoA can get money out of anyone, so they can afford to advance you the money that belongs to you and get it back from the SCUMBAG that stole it!

Earlier this year, someone at BoA stole my Dad's debit card number and used it to charge over $400 worth of computer equipment at Fry's.com. My mom found out when she logged on to do he online banking and saw three pening charges. Boa was NOT helpful at all, and basically just said their hands were tied. ("You can wait until the pending charges go through, then file a claim.")
Luckily, we were able to get Fry's to block the charges, so they never actually came out of the bank account. But you better believe they went that day and switched banks. So sad. And the person that stole the number? Who knows. Fraud department never got back with us to make a statement or file a claim.

Probably because the receiving bank had no evidence yet that a fraud had occurred.

Wire transfers are final transactions. I don't believe they can legally be reversed without the permission of the account owner that received it. This is why wire transfers are the preferred method of scammers...they are virtually impossible to call back.

 

[robinb]

Probably because the receiving bank had no evidence yet that a fraud had occurred.

Wire transfers are final transactions. I don't believe they can legally be reversed without the permission of the account owner that received it. This is why wire transfers are the preferred method of scammers...they are virtually impossible to call back.

Not only that, but I suspect that the scammers are long gone and the account abandoned. It makes no sense for BOA to take the hit for the OP's mistake.

 

[TheRatPack]

Just wanted to say I was sorry that you'd went through this. We've been the victim of a couple of scams/thefts this year and it's really sad that more of it seems to be happening lately. It's never easy to admit mistakes, but we all make them....there are some very smart criminals out there and they know just how to take advantage of people. I'm praying that your situation resolves itself soon and that it turns out positive for you and your family.

 

[KirstenB]

Probably because the receiving bank had no evidence yet that a fraud had occurred.

Wire transfers are final transactions. I don't believe they can legally be reversed without the permission of the account owner that received it. This is why wire transfers are the preferred method of scammers...they are virtually impossible to call back.

They can be final, for sure. I worked for a brokerage firm, and worked in the credit department, which approved wires. We had to have a name, address, acct #, and reason for the transfer, before we could provide approval. These crooks may well have fake id's etc, but we had to ask for all of that.

 

[mrsklamc]

No reason for BOA to take the financial hit but they should have documentation of where it went (account holder's info.$