im in real trouble here

What is the name of your state? IN I don't want to admit it but I fell for one of those counterfeit check scams. Here's details:I was suspicious of it and went to the bank the check was drawn on, told them I didn't think it could be true.They checked out account,called to verify the check # had been issued and went through 2 managers.I was told ckeck was good,but to cash it I would need to open an account.I opened the savings account and asked how long a hold there would be on the money,was told none.Ten days later,bank wants everything I took out back-I don't have it since I sent the advance fee thing. Yeah, stupid. Desperate people though believe what they need to. Have not been able to work for past 4 years because of unresolved health issue. Can not borrow 4000 and I have tried, Now do I just wait to be arrested or can I turn myself in? I understand I have to pay this back but bank wants it all now and I need to make payments-maybe through the courts?

Unless you were part of a scam where *you* intended to defraud the bank, you will not be arrested. They may sue you civilly and you may want to call the bank to make arraingements to pay them back.

Tranquility, you're wrong.

People do get arrested on these Nigerian check scam cases. It's true that prosecutors have the burden of proving knowledge - but that's true in every forgery case.

The fact that the check came from Nigeria doesn't mean he didn't know it was a forgery. In fact, some people (prosecutors) would argue that he should have known it was a forgery, because of where it came from. (They might also argue that his behavior at the bank indicates he was at least suspicious that it was forged.)

Of course, none of that means he WILL BE arrested. That will be up to the bank, and the police.

In the meantime, he ought to at least pay back the part of the money that he kept.

It's also probably in his interest to try to work out something with the bank to pay back the rest. And he should be sure to keep his receipt showing what money he sent to Nigeria in a safe place.

not from Nigeria

Bank was Fifth Third, went to a Fifth Third to verify it. It was from an American company that I did find on the net,had an account with Fifith Third for over 12 years.I have tried to work out payments with the bank and they won't hear of it

What was the scam?

Kane said:

What was the scam?

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Here is my guess.....OP was given a check for $4000. He was told by the guy who gave it to him to give me 20% (again guessing) and you keep the rest for yourself for your trouble. OP checks with the bank, managers confirm it's good, so he cashes it, sends the other guy his 20%, starts thinking of how he is going to spend his share. The whole time, he has a funny feeling that something is amiss because he probably knows the other guy and is quite aware that he doesn't have a straight bone is his body. The account the check was written from is then closed by the the other guy. Ten days go by and his hunch is right....the bank wants their loot back. He held onto his cut because again, he had a funny feeling, but the 20% is long gone.

This (again my opinion) doesn't sound as if the OP was scammed, it sounds like he involved himself in a scam on the bank and got caught.

seven53 said:

Here is my guess.....OP was given a check for $4000. He was told by the guy who gave it to him to give me 20% (again guessing) and you keep the rest for yourself for your trouble. OP checks with the bank, managers confirm it's good, so he cashes it, sends the other guy his 20%, starts thinking of how he is going to spend his share. The whole time, he has a funny feeling that something is amiss because he probably knows the other guy and is quite aware that he doesn't have a straight bone is his body. The account the check was written from is then closed by the the other guy. Ten days go by and his hunch is right....the bank wants their loot back. He held onto his cut because again, he had a funny feeling, but the 20% is long gone.

This (again my opinion) doesn't sound as if the OP was scammed, it sounds like he involved himself in a scam on the bank and got caught.

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Probably not. I got one of these in the mail myself for $2999.00. It was from a legitimate company in Texas. What these scammers are doing now is targeting U.S companies and forging checks from those companies. All the bank will do is check with the bank it is drawn on and verify the funds are in the account to cover the check. Of course when the company sees the check and disputes it with their bank the check gets kicked back and you are on the hook for the amount on the check. I called the company my self and informed them that someone was passing bogus checks from their company.

The letter that came with mine said I won an online contest and since I enter a lot of them I thought I had won something, but when they ask you to send some back to them for "processing" you know it is a scam.

I've been a target of this type of scam as well, although I immediately took notice of the red flags and didn't fall for it.

I was selling a motorcycle which I advertised both in a local publication and on line. I was contacted by someone who wanted to see pictures so I emailed him some. He then said he wanted to buy it. (1st red flag was buying a bike for $9,000.00 without even seeing it in person) Then he began to ask, "Could he trust me?" (2nd red flag, he's asking me if I'm honest)
What he wanted to do was send me a check (3rd red flag) for an amount $2,000.00 above the sales price of the bike. (4th red flag)
He then wanted me to cash this check and Western Union him the difference (5th red flag) less shipping costs.
The bike was supposed to be shipped to an address which was different from the one on his check. (6th red flag)

I told him I would do this but that I would not send him the difference or the bike until thirty to sixty days after I deposited his check. This was not acceptable to him (7th red flag) because the bike was a birthday present for his son which needed to arrive in a week.
I told him to just cash the check, Western Union me the exact amount I was asking for the bike and I would send it freight collect.

I never heard from him again.

So I imagine there's several methods to this rip off that these scammers try to pull. As unbelievable as it seems, they must fool allot of people and separate them from their money often, because they keep trying to work this scam over and over.
I get one or two of these attempted rip offs every time I list an item for sale on line, when the selling price is in the thousand on up price range.

the whole scam

Got a letter stating I won a contest sponsored by Home Depot,Walmart and a few others.The check was from a legit company. Got a check for 4800. Sent in 3100 for fees ( I left 1000 in the bank) I was supposed to then receive the remainder of the prize. I didn't know anybody involved and since they didn't ask me for any personal or banking info or any of my money no red flags went off in my head.

reallystupid said:

Got a letter stating I won a contest sponsored by Home Depot,Walmart and a few others.The check was from a legit company. Got a check for 4800. Sent in 3100 for fees ( I left 1000 in the bank) I was supposed to then receive the remainder of the prize. I didn't know anybody involved and since they didn't ask me for any personal or banking info or any of my money no red flags went off in my head.

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If you were the winner in a contest you don't remember entering, that should have been red flag number 1.

No legitimate sweepstakes, raffle or lottery type of drawing requires you to pay up front money in order to receive your prize, so this should have been red flag number 2.

How did you go about "sending in these fees"? Was it by personal check, money order, cashiers check, Western Union?
My guess was that it was provided by you in such a way that the recipient had immediate access to the funds, in other words, they didn't have to wait for your check to clear and there would have been no way for you to place a stop payment on the transaction once it was made. If so, red flag number 3.

How did you contact these people who were requiring this claim money in order to arrange the transaction of said money? My guess was by calling a number which was in the cellular phone system, on a pre-paid account and not in any business or personal name. A number you couldn't verify by using reverse lookup on a telephone directory site.
Or by sending an Email to a free, fictitous account If so, red flag number 4.

What I'm getting at is that if something was wrong with this whole transaction, there was no way for you to get in contact with these people or, put the police in touch with them or request the bank to follow their paper trail and this makes red flag number 5.

As my Granddad used to say, "There's no such thing as a free lunch" you always end up paying for it one way or the other...