Fake Check for a vehicle deposited to Bank of America. ChexSystems Problems

Hello Everyone,

I have a huge problem... Back in July I was selling my car on craigslist. I fell a victim to the check scam. They sent me a check that was fake. Not suspecting anything and being young with no experience I went to the bank to deposit the check. My account was empty at the time. The bank suspected the check might be fake and they put it on extended hold. That raised one red flag for me but it was already too late. 15 days later I go over to the bank and they tell me that the check was fake, my account is frozen and that they'll have to close my account. I agreed as I couldn't do anything else. I didn't report it to the police since it's more than impossible to catch the person who sent me the fake check. Now a few months later I went over to PNC to open a bank account. I got denied on the spot because Bank of America submitted the report of a fake check to ChexSystems! So I got my ChexSystems report, and it says that I got reported for: SUSPECTED FRAUD ACTIVITY. If I'm a SUSPECT only than how can they legally restrict me from opening an account? I was not charged by the court of law with any fraud!

Now my questions is: since there is no police report on file HOW can i dispute this with ChexSystems??? Im a victim but they're treating me like if I was a criminal! It's violating my rights! I should not be punished as this has not been proven and there was no fair trial in the court of law! Can I take ChexSystems, Inc. to court? My point is that they're limiting my ability to open a bank account without having any legal proof of me participating in this whole scam! It sounds illegal and I wanna do something about it! It has been some time now and the inability to open a bank account has caused me a lot of hardship. I want the responsible company to pay for their mistakes!

Also, I dont know if that will change anything but my first name has been misspelled by one letter on the report. I read somewhere that this might be a good enough reason to have the whole thing removed as they reported inaccurate information. It ssays theres is a chargeoff amount of: $172.40 while my account has not been overdrafted when it was closed.

Thanks You for all your help. Im a 18 year old just trying to live my life the right way but this whole problem with the bank and ChexSystems is keeping me from that and Im afraid it might ruing my financial future for years to come.

Jake

Wow, I am sorry this has happened to you. Sounds like you got a couple of things brewing here. When you received the check you never got any information from the buyer? Did they get your car?

Also there are some banks that do not use chexsystems to open an account untill this is cleared up.

Yeah it's very annoying... He never got the car. I realized in time that it's a scam. I sent him an email with a couple words of wisdom and never got a reply- obviously. Now I'm wondering if it might be appropriate to get into that scam again- intentionally just to get this person to send the shipping company and wait for them with the police. Then I would have the ability to get the persons name and address from the shipping company that would come to pick up the vehicle. Having the police on my side I might be able to bring them to justice as I would have enough proof. I just want some justice for all those who were working so hard to cause my so many problems.

The buyer kept following up on the transaction untill I told him that I realized it's a scam. I requested the list of banks that dont use ChexSystems, yet Im still afraid that this whole situation, if not solved, might have a negative impact on my credit history =/

Well I would get all documentation possible from bank of america and take it to the police station and file a report. This way you can show you were the victim. Any emails you have from the anonymous buyer print them out and take to police. Things like this happen all the time and the police are aware how to deal with it. See if you can recontact the buyer again just for the heck of it.


I would definately call TeleTrak and explain the situation and see what they say about the whole ordeal. Maybe they will require some documentation to clear the negative blemish off your report.

Do you owe BOA any money and fees for the fraudulant check? Have you checked your credit reports?

I have a day off tomorrow and I'm planning on going to BOA and getting all the papers. Im trying to reach a detective at the police station to ask him if I can still file a report even though it has been a while since I got the fake check in the mail.

I checked my credit report in the past 6 months so im not eligible for a free one but since I work for a car dealer I might get my F&I to run my credit for free thorough our system. Do you think this might have gone on my credit report even though this situation doesnt have anything to do with credit itself?

I don't own BOA any fees for the fraudulant check. They did not notify me of any fees, except for the fact that they did send me a letter saying that i have $1,39 left in my account.

Hopefully I'll be able to reach the guy who was trying to rip me off with the fake check. I don't know of any way to get his information but maybe I'll be able to come up with something that will trick him into giving me his name, phone number or anything else that may work to establish his identity.

Seems like this is gonna be a looong process to get all this straight again. I called ChexSystem a minute ago and they told me that they can only talk to me regarding the issue if I send them a dispute. Will do tomorow after Im not with the police... eh

I have seen bad checks reported on credit reports before. However, if bank of america did not send you a notice of any fees I doubt it hits your reports. Instead I guess they just reported to ChexSystems.

Well best of luck with everything!!

Bank of America reports to EWS and chexsystems both

Hey, xairplanedriverx! How did you get that check? And how did the would-be buyer/scammer find you? If this was a mail or Internet deal, please contact the US Postal Inspection Service. They have much sharper teeth that your local cops.

You can also file a complaint here http://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx

(Just my '2 cents')..Usually if you explain to the bank the situation, they are willing to help you. However...as you know, all banks are different. I never had BOA before, so,..I don't know how they handle things. I hope the situation works out for you. Sometime, last year, I recieved a check in the mail. The letter, that came along with it, stated 'this check is for a grant for you'. It even had the name of a bank, routing number, etc. I called the bank and they told me it was a total scam and that they 'closed' this certain account sometime agao. They took my name and number and said they would report it.