My boyfriend received some money from an online friend in the form of Cashier's checks totaling over $2000. This money was supposedly meant to help him get back on his feet and fix his car. The checks looked real, and had all of the legitimate markings and ensignia that one would expect from a check. Neither he nor I knew enough about these things to suspect anything. He took the checks to the bank, and deposited the money. We waited the requisite three days for the funds to be verified, and then he proceeded to begin spending the money for things that he needed. After he had spent $1000 some odd dollars, he went to the bank to take out enough money to get his brakes fixed, only to be told that the balance of his account was only $0.06, and after thirty minutes of waiting in the lobby for phone calls to be made, the bank finally informed him that the original deposit had been removed due to the checks being fake. Since he had no way of knowing this, he is not being prosecuted, but he is not being allowed to keep the money either. My question is, how legal is it for the bank to take money out of an account a week after verifying the funds? Should they not have left the money on a pending status until they knew for sure? Why are people who are not trying to do anything illegal at fault because they trusted someone? Is there no protection for the unwitting individual? He and I were already having plenty of financial troubles, and with a baby on the way, it is stressful to have things like this happen. Now his account is overdrawn, and they charged him a returned check fee for this error..

What kind of friend would send a fake check? I'd be getting some new friends.

Sure, the banks could hold funds for a couple of weeks, but you can see how displeased their customers would be, can't you? When people want their money, they want it right now, not next month.

The people who didn't do anything illegal are not at fault, but neither are they entitled to money from a check that was a forgery. The bank isn't at fault either, why should they have to take a loss? No money went in, so no money goes out; it's simple math.