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Victim of Internet Scam and Now Bank has frozen our assets until their investigation.

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jwitt

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? California


Hello,

I'm writing because my fiance has been a victim of an internet scam.
Here are the facts:
1. He's a freelance business coach and posted his resume on a jobsite.
2. He bid on a job and was awarded the job.
3 The person is from England and has a seemingly legitimate business..has a website, ect.
4. The person asked him to open a bank account at bank of america and that he was expecting funds and wanted my fiance to use that money to pay his vendors by taking out the money in cash and sending it to his vendors by way of western union to Romania, China and here in the US.
5. The money was wired into the bank of america account...17k then another 43k from JP MOrgan/ Fidelity Investments. There was a hold on the account, but then the funds cleared, as b of a called him to let him know the funds were there.
6. My fiance took the cash, got western union wires over the course of a week to the addresses provided by the person who hired him.
7. a week later b of a closes his account, and tells him that they now suspect that the wire transfer from Fidelity was a fraudulent wire transfer. B of A is very elusive and will not speak to my fiance.
8. My fiance and I have our personal/business account with Wells Fargo, no relation to the b of a account.
9. We found out today that b of a contacted wells fargo, and now wells fargo is closing down our personal account.
10. we spoke to b of a who said they are doing their investigation and told us to file a police report, which we did. we have also contacted via online the FBI.
11. B of a says that they will 'mail us a letter' of what is going on in about 3 days.
12. OUr money in our wells fargo account is frozen and we have bills to pay, auto deductions, ect.
13. B of A is refusing to cooperate with us, the police dept. told us that it is not our fault because the bank should have verified the transfer and that we should speak to an attorney, since our assets are now frozen.
Please help! We cannot get anywhere with bank of america and wells fargo will not do anything until bank of america finishes their investigation, which could be 60 days.
 


bdancer

Member
Yep, you should probably get an attorney, but not because the bank did anything wrong. Your fiance may face criminal charges.

That scam is an oldie that anyone with an ounce of common sense would not fall for. Why would a foreign company need someone to open a bank account in their name and deposit checks? The company would open their own account. In fact, banks have special depts set up to handle incoming deposits -- most of those remittance addresses on your utility bills or other bills are bank lockbox operations.
 

sandyclaus

Senior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? California


Hello,

I'm writing because my fiance has been a victim of an internet scam.
Here are the facts:
1. He's a freelance business coach and posted his resume on a jobsite.
2. He bid on a job and was awarded the job.
3 The person is from England and has a seemingly legitimate business..has a website, ect.
4. The person asked him to open a bank account at bank of america and that he was expecting funds and wanted my fiance to use that money to pay his vendors by taking out the money in cash and sending it to his vendors by way of western union to Romania, China and here in the US.
5. The money was wired into the bank of america account...17k then another 43k from JP MOrgan/ Fidelity Investments. There was a hold on the account, but then the funds cleared, as b of a called him to let him know the funds were there.
6. My fiance took the cash, got western union wires over the course of a week to the addresses provided by the person who hired him.
7. a week later b of a closes his account, and tells him that they now suspect that the wire transfer from Fidelity was a fraudulent wire transfer. B of A is very elusive and will not speak to my fiance.
8. My fiance and I have our personal/business account with Wells Fargo, no relation to the b of a account.
9. We found out today that b of a contacted wells fargo, and now wells fargo is closing down our personal account.
10. we spoke to b of a who said they are doing their investigation and told us to file a police report, which we did. we have also contacted via online the FBI.
11. B of a says that they will 'mail us a letter' of what is going on in about 3 days.
12. OUr money in our wells fargo account is frozen and we have bills to pay, auto deductions, ect.
13. B of A is refusing to cooperate with us, the police dept. told us that it is not our fault because the bank should have verified the transfer and that we should speak to an attorney, since our assets are now frozen.
Please help! We cannot get anywhere with bank of america and wells fargo will not do anything until bank of america finishes their investigation, which could be 60 days.
You are the victim of one of the more lucrative scams going these days. You open a bank account, accept fraudulent and unauthorized transfers from other accounts, and once the funds "clear", you withdraw the funds and send them via Western Union to the scammer. Of course, you get to keep a percentage of the transaction for your services, and that's how you get paid. Meanwhile, when the transactions come back as fraudulent or unauthorized, the accountholder (you) is left holding the bag.

When the investigation is completed, I'm sure that you will be found to have been a victim of this scam. However, that money you withdrew and forwarded to the scammers is still gone. And for all they know, B of A and Wells Fargo thinks that you still have some or all of it in your other separate bank account. That's going to remain frozen for the duration - nothing you can do about it. And it's entirely possible that that money will end up being confiscated to pay back those who were victims of the fraudulent transactions, and you'll never see it again. You will ALSO remain 100% liable for the amounts you withdrew and forwarded to the scammer.

It's a hard lesson to learn - there is no free lunch, and there is no easy buck to be made out there with these well-known fraud schemes.
 

swalsh411

Senior Member
Your fiance is a grade A bonafide idiot. There is no way around it. This scam has been going on for years. There are warnings about it EVERYWHERE. How could he have fallen for this? Is this really a person you want to marry?

He is no more a "victim" then a person who ignored warnings signs, entered a construction area, and got impaled on falling rebar.
 

Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
Western Union even warns of this:

https://wumt.westernunion.com/WUCOMWEB/staticMid.do?method=load&pagename=Security_FraudTypes&countryCode=US&languageCode=en
 

Mass_Shyster

Senior Member
This is the first one I've heard of using wire transfers.

OP should contact an attorney. I don't know that Wells Fargo can freeze an account based on a request from another bank. That normally takes a court order.
 

Hot Topic

Senior Member
I've responded multiple times to job ads that involved me doing a "small task" for the person who placed the ad because they wanted to make sure that I could be "trusted."

Anyone who falls for this scam deserves what they get.
 

jwitt

Junior Member
Stunned at lack of empathy......

Your fiance is a grade A bonafide idiot. There is no way around it. This scam has been going on for years. There are warnings about it EVERYWHERE. How could he have fallen for this? Is this really a person you want to marry?

He is no more a "victim" then a person who ignored warnings signs, entered a construction area, and got impaled on falling rebar.
Alrighty then.....I thought this was a forum for "professional comments/evaluations" not a forum for judgements and for bashing people who have made a simple mistake...who were violated for trusting someone who turned up on a simple background check as legitimate.
People have come to this site for advice, NOT to be beat up for making a simple mistake.
And, BTW, this 'scam' is no where listed on the FBI scam site....

It's too bad folks like yourself consider yourself superior, and so with your "holier than thou" attitude, you sit in judgement of others.

It's been a proven fact that those who feel they must bash others, especially when someone is already down, that they are themselves lacking ....perhaps making up for another "small" deficiency??? ;)
So honestly I'd like to see the first person who posted on my thread who is worthy of walking on water to reveal themselves. If you can't be professional and offer helpful advice, then shut the F&^% up and stay off this thread!

Have a nice day!:cool:
 

sandyclaus

Senior Member
Alrighty then.....I thought this was a forum for "professional comments/evaluations" not a forum for judgements and for bashing people who have made a simple mistake...who were violated for trusting someone who turned up on a simple background check as legitimate.
People have come to this site for advice, NOT to be beat up for making a simple mistake.
And, BTW, this 'scam' is no where listed on the FBI scam site....

It's too bad folks like yourself consider yourself superior, and so with your "holier than thou" attitude, you sit in judgement of others.

It's been a proven fact that those who feel they must bash others, especially when someone is already down, that they are themselves lacking ....perhaps making up for another "small" deficiency??? ;)
So honestly I'd like to see the first person who posted on my thread who is worthy of walking on water to reveal themselves. If you can't be professional and offer helpful advice, then shut the F&^% up and stay off this thread!

Have a nice day!:cool:
But it IS listed on the Western Union website. Perhaps you should have looked there.

Anyway... It appears that you want to feel superior to all of us who recognized the scam when you failed to see the warning signs. And after all, it is YOU who is out your money that you so desperately need right now.

Sorry that you didn't like the advice and feedback you received. Be sure not to let the door hit you where the good Lord split you as you make your way out...:D
 

Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
And, BTW, this 'scam' is no where listed on the FBI scam site....
Sure it is:
From http://www.fbi.gov/scams-safety/e-scams


Involvement in Criminal Activity Through Work-From-Home Scams

10/20/10—Consumers continue to lose money from work-from-home scams that assist cyber criminals move stolen funds. Worse yet, due to their deliberate or unknowing participation in the scams, these individuals may face criminal charges. Work-from-home scam victims are often recruited by organized cyber criminals through newspaper ads, online employment services, unsolicited emails or “spam” ,one and social networking sites advertising work-from-home opportunities. Once recruited, however, rather than becoming an employee of a legitimate business, the consumer is actually a “mule” for cyber criminals who use the consumer’s or other victim’s accounts to steal and launder money. In addition, the consumer’s own identity or account may be compromised by the cyber criminals
.
 

tranquility

Senior Member
It's been a proven fact that those who feel they must bash others, especially when someone is already down, that they are themselves lacking ....perhaps making up for another "small" deficiency???
Irony, your name is jwitt.
 

CSO286

Senior Member
Alrighty then.....I thought this was a forum for "professional comments/evaluations"
Funny, I didn't see that in the TOS.....

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Nope, not there.
 

jwitt

Junior Member
Wow....seems I've stumbled into the land where the trolls live....not my kind of place.

I'll leave you folks here to wallow in your misery...too bad you can't be USEFUL to society. That's why you're here!

Best of luck to you all!
Enjoy your hell. :cool:
 

CSO286

Senior Member
Wow....seems I've stumbled into the land where the trolls live....not my kind of place.

I'll leave you folks here to wallow in your misery...too bad you can't be USEFUL to society. That's why you're here!

Best of luck to you all!
Enjoy your hell. :cool:

Have a nice day, too.
 

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