ScamVictimsUnited.com

I realized we had been scammed at about 2 am after we sent the Western Union $6700.00. I cleaned out most of my account from the bank and decided if they wanted it they would have to come after me. I cannot believe that these banks can get away with stating the funds are good and we spend the money. There has to be some law out there protecting us from them. I really don't know what to do, because everyone says we have no case. How can that be??? We need to get together and form a class action suit against the FDIC or some similar banking institution. Any advice??

Hello, misitfy,
First of all let me tell you how sorry we all are that you have been scammed.
Many of us have walked in the same shoes and have been furious that hte banks have claimed no liability. Unfortunately, that is the law right now- unless the bank was clearly negligent in some way.
You did not elaborate on how you were taken in.
If it was a sale on the internet, please read through some of the posts.Thwere is a lot of information that will be helpful to you.
Look at the links on the website .You have lost money and the secret service may help you.
Gather up ALL of the emails with the complete headers and send that to the secret service, the ISP of the scammer( send to abuse@ yahoo or hotmail etc.
Go to the District Attorney for more advice on pursuing this in case the scammer is in your State. Find a good legal advocate to hire or ask for advice
If the scam came from NIgeria, send all the headers etc. to sp@419legal.org. They will help track and prosecute.
The bad news is that there is llittle chance to recover the money.
I know it will take some time to go through some of our posts, but you will get a better sense of what you are dealing with.
There are some of us who are working toward better legislation .It takes time and finding the legislators who really care, but if enough of us "squeak" loud enough, changes will occur.
Let us know wha else we can do to help you.
Regards,
Churchmouse
Get the bank to work with you on repayment

Ok lets make this as simple as possible for mistify

1. The banks know what is going on and do not care!

2. The bank looks at it this way: They fronted you the money in good faith that the check was good and would clear, therefore they see it as your problem not theirs.

3. Law enforcement as lax as it may be, will side with the bank that YOU the bearer of the check, had the responsibility on you to verify that the check was good BEFORE depositing it into your account.

4. There is little to no legislation worth a darn to help victims and force the banks to do the right thing.


FACT is that it shouldnt be but is turning out to be up to Victims of these crimes to begin yelling and I mean really yelling for legislation to stop this from happening anymore.

It is pretty sick when a victim of a crime has to be the one fighting for justice , doing the jobs that law enforcement and legislators should be doing.

Try getting your bank some news coverage, contact local radio, TV stations and newspapers see if you can get anyone in your area to do a story on this for you .

They wont like media action too well if it means their name getting dragged through the mud for being stupid and uncaring.

Mistify...be aware that your bank will "come after you" to make good on the check. Their Official stance is that as the "endorser" of the check, it is up to YOU to ensure that the funds are from a "reliable" source...even though you probably don't look at hundreds of legal tender documents on a daily basis (the logic truly escapes me). I learned the hard way, as have many here, that your bank only holds your money for you, and makes money from your money...it is NOT in their "job description" to protect you in any way from fraudsters or counterfeiters. I, in fact, was prosecuted in criminal courts for felony theft and "defrauding a creditor" after the bank was able to freeze my accounts to attempt to recover a portion of the funds from me.

The FDIC has been issuing alerts to banks reguarding this for years...but they are not even REQUIRED to pay attention to these alerts. Most bankers turn a blind eye and a hard heart to those in our predicament, but there are some who realize that this is a slap in the face of people everywhere and there is a need for greater training for all bank personnel, and not just the public at large.

They are not allowed to speak freely of their experiences, but there ARE those who have taken their banks to task and been at least somewhat successful in forcing them to accept a portion of the responsibility. If you decide to take on your bank, the first step is to find an attorney...Document EVERYTHING. You've already been told to print every email with headers...Document EVERY conversation, every visit with anyone associated with the bank. If you begin to get messages from a security officer from the bank, or anything like that, do not erase the messages if their are any threats or deadlines implied...

As your situation progresses, continue to keep us updated and we will do our best to assist you as you go along.


txbelle

I did not give my bank money. even when they served me with papers to appear in court i did not give them money. they have to work out a deal with you. it is hard and you will want to cave so many times. It just dawned on me that I could have lied about my whole situation and come up $20,000 richer (had I not sent the money back to the scammers). The bank has no evidence as to what happened to me and cares very little.
And yet they swallowed 2 thirds of the amount incurred. a$$ BACKWARDS is all I have to say.

It is very unfortunate that banks have us over the barrel. I will tell you though i have finally got a checking account, you can bet your butt NOONE gets that number unless there is a darn good reason and I can check them out before I hand them anything. Second of all if people want to pay me by check they are out of luck. Not going there again EVER.

Its good ole cashola from here on out except my boss of course. That one is easy the company banks with the same bank that I do. BTW Suntrust which is where I bank told me they know of the scam and they try to pay extra attention to make sure they protect their customers. First time I have heard that from any banker other than PABanker and a few others around the boards.

Does anyone recognize the names Sule Shinkafi or Julius Opie ?

HI,
There are so many scammers that it's hard to keep track.
You might try the names on google -alone and with the word scam after them.
Also, http://www.scamchecker.com may have therm in the database.
Good luck and remember, it's not really the names they use that's important.It's the IP addresses that can be traced in order for the proper law enforcement agencies to be involved . My scammers have all used Anglo Saxon names because they think those names are more acceptable when purchasing my vehicle. The African ones seem more exotic when pulling a 419 scam about treasure or inheritance.
Cheers,
Churchmouse

Whilst I have some sympathy for people who have lost money, it really makes me wonder where peoples brains go when they recieve a 419 email.

Weve all been low on funds but I find it very difficult to understand how people can buy into these emails with promises of millions of £.

Didnt you think it strange that somone had choosen you to recieve large amounts of cash? and didnt it occur to you that if they required a bank account, they could strike a deal with a company, instead of an individual and there would be less risk to them.

Just an idea.

Unfortunately whilst there are greedy people who want do do as little as possible for large amounts of cash, there will be victims. Should people get money refunded by a bank? hell no, its a typical example of todays society that people dont want to take responsibility for their own actions.

Ukerjim
Just an FYI, this is a victims board and people are looking for help, not someone to tell them AGAIN what they have done wrong. If you read through these posts you will find that often times the victims have talked to the BANK about these scams and shown them counterfeit checks, etc. and the BANK clears them, at the point I have to say the bank is at fault, their tellers should be trained to detect counterfeits. Although I agree 419 scamming is a different thing than counterfeit check fraud and may often come from greed, 419 scams are getting harder and harder to pull thus the scammers are trying easier scams such as counterfeiting, fake bank sites, etc. The banks should really step up and start training or nothing will ever get resolved.

I agree with sunrayz.

What I hate is when people try to put all scams in one catagory . . . I have been told SO many times that we were victims because of our own greed . . . we were selling a car, how is that being "greedy"? People don't take the time to read/hear the parts of each story.

If all of these scams were so easy to see through, then con-artist would have to find a real job. The worst part is that they tend to go after the good and trusting people in the world, since those are the ones that will believe the story.

There should be public service announcements about scams so that the message can be spread to a larger amount of people at once.

Admin is absolutely right and please to all who post refrain from placing blame on greed. Many have become victims by trying to run an honest business and getting scammed with a bad check. Has little to do with greed and all to do with conmen's abilities to know what to say, how to say it and how to package up a deal for someone to bite at.

Not everyone is aware of these scams and not everyone can know how to spot them and avoid them. Placing labels on victims does more damage than any good at all.