Blue Leaf Finance Attempted to Rip me off Chicago Illinois

OK.  I'm going to honest here.  I have terrible credit and owe money on my credit cards, etc.  that I can't pay right now.  I am 70 years old and been ill since the beginning of the year and unable to work but a couple of days a week.  I have been dependent on the income from my job to supplement my social security for the past few years and not working much this year has created a financial situation where I'm hard pressed to pay my rent, utilities, food, etc.  

Last week I was desparetly in need of a loan in order to pay my rent and filled out multiple applications online with payday lenders with no success.  Then Thursday, October 27, 2022, I received a phone call from first Ashley and then Eric with Blue Leaf Lending telling me I was approved for $1,500 and they took all the information to access my checking account to deposit the money.  They said they had attempted to "fund" the loan but my checking account info wasn't working and then asked for the password to my account.  I'm not a stupid person.  I have a BS and a MS in Geology, but I was worried about making rent and I was thinking correctly.  

The next morning Eric called me and said he had made two test deposits to my account and asked me to send the money back to him via Cash App and then he would forward me a check I could print out for $1,500.  I attempted to send his money back but thank goodness my bank had the foresight to put a three day hold on those deposit of $997.00.  I thought it was be deposits of like $1.48, etc.  I told him I couldn't load it into my Cash app because the bank had a hold on them.  He got really, really angry and told me I needed to go to the bank and have the deposits removed.  It was at that point I realized that they were attempting scam me.  I printed out the $1,500 check and took it to my back and it was totaly counterfeit.

The good news is the money is still in my account and the bank said it's mine and so did the police department.  I ended up unintentionally scamming them but please be careful out there!