Legal Question in Product Liability in Massachusetts
Scammed and now i'm paying for it
I received a check in the mail with a letter stating that I had won the money. I called the bank that the check was from and verified that the account was a valid account so I so happily deposited the check into my savings account. The check cleared, but, a WEEK later, after I had already used some of the money, the bank charged it back. I had originally deposited the check into my savings acct but then transferred it to my checking so that I could use it. When the bank went to charge it back, they went into my checking and withdrew all the money from it, which included a direct deposit for my salary, and they took it all to cover the chargeback from the fradulent check. I was told I can't do much about the scammers. I would love to sink these people for scamming innocent victims. However, can the bank simply take the funds out of my checking to cover the chargeback of the fraudulent check without giving me a chance to pay it back once i was aware of the scam? I wasn't even aware of the scam until my bank went after my funds in my checking. I am now in a finacial hardship due to this and half of my bills won't be paid this month due to this. Can i demand the bank to return my funds and allow me to pay the money back on my own?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Scammed and now i'm paying for it
Sounds like the bank has a court order in place order, or maybe its part of some AG enforcement action, under which the bank has been legally authorized to both access and drain money from your accounts. Probably b/c the legal entity authorizing the action deems those funds as fraudulently misappropriated and in an account (yours) close enough to the fraud that bank is able to take them back w/o notice or opportunity to object.
Unless there is some banking law I am unfamiliar with that specifically authorizes this (which I concede is possible; I don't do banking), generally no one but you and the creditors you specifically authorize can access your accounts and then draw funds out unilaterally. So absent specific authority for the bank's actions, this is highly unusual and, in my legal action - in which case you have been deemed close enough to the sphere of this fraud to be concerned you will be connected to it -- or this is actually part of a continuing fraud scheme (and its not really the bank, but more scamming, in which case, watch your account).
I would contact the bank and ask under what authority it has accessed and drained money from your account. If it leads to legitimate authority, you may have some exposure here if your not careful (i.e., the law sees you as connected to the fraud, such that those funds can be taken back by court order). If there is any way under which you could conceivably be deemed connected to the scheme, I would be very careful about asking lots of questions about it.
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