Fake Check Scam Alert

My name is Aslan Hollier, and I was a victim of a fake check scam. I was on craigslist and found an ad for an personal assistant/office assistant position, then I applied. The man claiming to be John Wilson contacted me back through the email at wjohn8912@gmail.com, and on the phone from 202-506-9389. In one e-mail, he said he would be calling from 747-200-9389, but he never called from that number, and I never called it.

I received a cashiers check from Fifth Third Bank on 2-12-2013. The envelope had no return address, it had an English Postal Stamp, and has an “Air Mail” “Royal Mail” sticker. On the check it said it was not John Wilson , but Clifton Harris in Lexington, KY. The check was in the amount of $2,480, and had a note with it that said this is money that Clifton owed John, and that the money was forwarded to me since I was the new assistant. I spoke with this so called John Wilson back and forth afterward.

I deposited the check in my bank at IBC on Parmer and IH-35(12625 IH 35 N Austin, TX 78753 #(512) 397-4570) on 2-12-2013, and they said there would be a 2 day hold for the check to clear. I told them to do whatever they had to do to make sure the check was secure because safety is important with things like this, and I'd never dealt with a cashiers check before.

The next day $200 was available to me, then the day after that the full amount was available. John had me do some tasks which consisted of getting a cashiers check from my bank for $50 and make it out to Oxfam America. Others tasks were making craigslist job postings, which is $25 a category, and cost me $75. In this posting process I had to make a new email address to use for the posting and send him the info to log on and receive the responses to the job postings.

Finally, I was asked to take $2,000 cash from the bank and Western Union the money to “the supplier”, for office supplies, to Marilyn Lawson in the Philippines on 2-15-2013. That money was sent and picked up quickly.

$300 of the check was supposed to be an advance payment to me for the work I was doing.

I then began to really feel something was wrong, as if I was doing something illegal like money laundering, so, I sent him a response telling him that I could no longer do tasks for him now that the money was gone. He gave me an appropriate response, and that was the end.

Days later, I tried to use my card and it was not approved. I went to the IBC Bank on Burnet road as part of the Domain Branch(11400 Burnet Rd Bldg 46 Austin, TX 78758 # (512) 397-4595).

I spoke with Stephen Jones, a Sales Associate, and the branch manager, Silvia Lopez. That is when I discovered the check was an “altered or fictitious item” and the money deposited from the check was taken from my account.

I had around $750 in my account, but approximately $320 was left from the faulty check, but $430 of my own hard earned money was in the account, it was all withdrawn, and I was left with a negative balance of around $1,750.

By 2-21-2013 I received a receipt, of sorts, in the mail from the bank notifying my about the faulty check, and that not only am I charged the amount deposited, I was charged a $12 charge back fee by the bank.

The manager told me that I was responsible for all of the money to be returned to the bank, and that these types of scams happen to many people everywhere. I was never once told by my bank, or anyone else informed in this matter, that cashiers checks can be completely fake and used in scams like this. I was also never informed that it is best to wait at least ten days for the check to clear, even though money would be available in two days.

I'm a victim of an elaborate scam and I don't receive help from anyone, not even the bank where my money is supposed to be protected. The only thing they can do for me is turn the negative amount into a “fresh start loan” and pay the money back, at no interest, in the amount of $146.50 for 12 months.

This doesn't help me at all and I feel that the bank is, at least, partially responsible for not issuing me safety warnings. These bank employees are clearly not trained to warn customers about these types of scams, though they obviously know about them. Had just one person warned me that this could happen, it would've never happened, and now I'm the one caught in the middle with the short end of the stick. I work hard to live on my own, and I've gone to college,, and I have those loan payments deferred because my money is so tight. I require a little more help from the bank, or someone in this matter. This is practically impossible for me to do alone. I'll have to work even harder to just get by.

My options are to pay the money back this way, which leads me to feel like I'm pleading guilty in a case where I'm innocent. It just doesn't sit right with me, and it brings me more stress.

My other option is to not sign this loan contract and fight it to the best of my ability. It will most likely go to collections, hurt my credit, keep me from opening an account anywhere, and I'd pay the money back anyway eventually.

No matter what I do, I'm screwed and going to be going through a lot of trouble. So, as I get older I get more fed up with how I'm treated and how many are treated, and I can't help but to fight somehow because clearly all anyone does is complain and then pay the money, as far as my research as shown, so, I'm just going to fight as much as I can until I can come to a mutual agreement with someone that works out in everyone's favor equally.

I lost all my money, and I'm back at the bottom struggling just when I thought I could save money to get myself out of a hole. For me, that's some torture. IBC Bank was named in the top 100 America's Best Banks by Forbes. Not only in top 100, but is listed as #10 with total assets at $11.7 billion (http://www.forbes.com/2009/12/30/bofa-hawaii-umb-business-wallstreet-best-banks_slide_11.html). Their motto is “we do more”, but they don't.

I think they could afford to just delete the negative balance bringing me to $0, and we can call it even. I realize that that is not how things work, but it should, and I'm willing to stand up. I feel I could find a pro-Bono lawyer to send them a message, and maybe scare them to help me more, or I could just do a lot of public posts and get some people behind me to cause a little disturbance to get some sort of help.

I've made a police report, and a fraud report to Western Union and Craigslist, and I'm in the process of filing it with the Federal Trade Commission, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the District Attorney/Attorney General, the Better Business Bureau, and FDIC.

I have all the emails saved during the process, pictures, and hard copies of everything I've done so far and dealt with in the process. Including from the point of the original cashiers check.

I'm also planning on posting this issue to Facebook, my blog, and possibly Youtube in order to help inform people about these events that can occur, and get others to stand untied against scams and bad money protection.

If I still go through troubles and end up paying the money, then at least I tried to fight, and I informed people in order to help others for the future. No one really delivers knowledge about this, which only leads me to believe that banks are possibly the ones behind the scams, Western Union could be behind scams, big business owners could be behind the scams, or all of the above. I only think that because no one is suffering as much as the those who get scammed.

On top of everything I feel like a chump, and I'm embarrassed to go through everything in order to let people know “this is how much of an idiot I am”, but I must suck up my pride and deliver the message to all who are willing to hear it.

Schools don't teach you important life lessons, mistakes in life do. Everyone should be knowledgeable of their basic rights with the law, with banks, creditors, security, their car, and all other real things in life that can be used against you. Sadly, we must learn ourselves and people close to us, instead of it being required information to be delivered to everyone. If you're informed about diseases you receive through sex, then you should be informed on all of these other “diseases” that can effect you health and lifestyle.

If there is any help or advice anyone can give me to ease my problems I'm going through, it would be much appreciated. We all need to learn to live and help one another to get through this ridiculous world we live in. Things seem to only be getting worse for everyone, and sooner or later we'll have to make a stand, or fall.

All companies work for us. If we didn't pay taxes or buy things, then no one would know what to do. It's hard for one person to make a difference, but one person can start something to bring many together, which makes all the difference.

***UPDATE April 29,2013***
I just received a message from a  girl in Washington state that has received contact from the same  "person". Using the name John Wilson, using the same e-mail that I listed in the post, and gave her the same cell phone number used with me. She contacted me through Facebook. After talking to John about the "job", he had arranged for her first "package" to be delivered. The package, of course, will be the fake check. It wasn't until her grandmother told her to google him that she searched him, and found this post on my blog. That's when she contacted me seeking help to catch this guy. Great things do happen. We're in the middle of trying to do something about this situation. Stay tuned for more updates!

*** 4-30-2013***
A girl in South Carolina messaged me and is is dealing with the same thing. That makes 2 saved by this post. Kind of makes it worth it.

***UPDATE 7-7-2020***
All these years ago I submitted info about this situation and ended up making a claim in a civil suite Western Union vs The United States. They lost and had to pay people. I received a check from the government's justice system in the amount of $2,000, which is what was taken from me and submitted to credit collection. It came this year, March 2020. Almost exactly 7 years after the original incident. Not only did I get money, but it is no longer on my credit history. Sometimes it takes a long time to get anything, but I'm glad I got it. I have and had patience and it worked out. Couldn't have come at a better time to since the pandemic hit and took my first salaried job away from me. It can't all work out great at the same time. *shrug*