Michelle Atkins from [email protected] responded to my job search on www.careerbuilder.com where I have my resume posted. She offered me a job, I signed a contract and accepted the position. I was to receive checks (payments) from clients in US for luxury car parts ordered from England. I was to deposit the checks into my bank account and when checks cleared do a Western Union wire transfer to London England. Two checks arrived from Geoffrey Frankovich in Lawrenceville, GA from BK OF NORTH GA DIV Synovus BK. The checks looked legitimate but I found the bank on-line, called the bank and asked about Geoffrey Frankovich and his account number to see if it was legitimate and if the money was in the account to cover both checks. I was told that there was enough money to cover only one check. Based on that information I deposited the larger of the two checks, $1995.00. A couple of days later I called the Bank of North GA again to find out if the check had cleared. I was told yes it has. I also asked if there was enough money in the account now to cover the second check for $1830.00 and I was told yes. Based on this information I withdrew $1759.00 from my account and wired the money by Western Union to Jon Lawrence in London England as instructed by Michelle Atkins. The very next day I am notified by my Bank that the check for $1995.00 came back as "altered or fictitious". I immediately went to my bank and together with the agent called the Bank of North Georgia to inquire about what just happened and how after I was told the check cleared. They put me on hold, presumably the bank called Geoffrey Frankovich who told them he did not write the check (s). To make the long story short my bank charged me $5.00 for each returned check and deducted $1759.00 from my account for the money I withdrew to wire soi now in total I have been scammed or $1769.00. Thank God I did not wire the second check amount.
I was sure I was doing everything right and I fel that both my Credit Union and the Bank of North GA failed me and failed to prevent this scam from occurring. Had they told me the checks still did not clear I would not have wired the money. When the bank tells you that the check had cleared doesn't that mean that everything was checked out and I can utelize the money? That is the way I understood the process. Now in retrospect I wish I had waited much longer but Michelle Atkins told me there would be a $100 Bonus for acting quickly once the check clears... So I did and I got burnt badly. Now the banks do not want to assist me in the recovery of my money and simply tell me that I was scammed. I am unemployed at the moment and the loss of this much money really stings and destroys me.
What can I do? Please advise. I already wrote to AOL Abuse and provided them with all the information. PLEASE HELP me recover the money I lost.
John
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