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Report: #167132

Complaint Review: Meridian Bank - Mark Aurrice - Scottsdale Arizona

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  • Reported By: Scottsdale Arizona
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  • Meridian Bank - Mark Aurrice Scottsdale, Arizona U.S.A.

Meridian Bank Mark Aurrice fraudulent cashiers check, non-protected by Meridian Bank ripoff Scottsdale Arizona

*Consumer Suggestion: Phx PD help

*Consumer Comment: File a police report.

*Consumer Comment: You were swindled...

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I was victim of the check overpayment scam for the sale of my car. I am selling my car for $7500 on autotrader.com and I receive an email from a Mark Aurrice telling me he has a client who wishes to buy my car(sight unseen) for the agreed price but his client had a cashiers check written out($16,000) for over and above the cost of the car to cover shipping and any repairs that needed to be done.

After receiving the check, I was supposed to wire back the remaining balance to expedite the pickup of the car. d**n! I was so in a hurry to get rid of my car and being a trusting person I didn't even think of this being a scam. I received a cashier's check for $16,000 from a Farmers Bank with a P.O. box address in Kentucky. I always thought that a cashiers check was the same as cash so i didnt think of anything fishy about this check. I am not in the banking business so I didnt know that cashiers check could be frauded.

So I deposited the check in my account at the Mcdowell MOuntain branch of Meridian Bank, even telling the banker that was from a car sale that I just did. She didnt ask me any more questions, NOR EVEN SUGGESTED that I wait til the check clears before withdrawing any money. I believe its partly their responsibility being in the banking industry to verify funds by calling the bank that issued the check. Yes, its mine too but they are the professionals.

Well, the next day withdraw $9,000, approximately $2500 OVER AND ABOVE what I had in my account of my own money!! I then wired the $8500 back to the "shipper"-some lady named Connie Williams. The bank allowed me to withdraw on the cashiers check without holding it first to see if would clear or anything. I mean its a $16,000 check for god's sakes!!! 3 days later I get a call from Meridian Bank telling me the check was fraudulent. I was devastated to say the least. I had just lost everything I had worked for and her response was "oh, thats too bad and you still owe the bank $2500" with a the most unempathetic tone you have ever heard.

Not one bit of attempt to work SOMETHING out. I feel its BOTH of our faults in this matter; my fault for not being more careful and the banks for not holding the funds or NOT EVEN SUGGESTING TO ME I WAIT TIL THE CHECK CLEARS. They are there to protect our money, no? So I called the main branch on Central ave. asking to speak to the President to plead my case and the administrative assistant basically took my plea to speak to him with the same tone and empathy as the other lady.

Remember, at this point I am just trying anything to save my money and my sanity. Again, no attempt to admit fault on their behalf saying its completely my fault and they are not required to hold funds on a cashiers check. Maybe they should be! I mean a $16,000 check comes in from a P.o Box in Kentucky and they dont hold funds?!

I then called the Phx Police dept to find a complaint and they wouldn't do anything because it was an internet crime. The policeman's attitude was basically youre screwed, the money is long gone. I couldnt even file a police report. So what now? I just lost everything in my savings and $2500 of the money I withdrew from the cashiers check, again over and above what I had in my account at the time.

I did file a complaint online with FBI. Moneygram, who I wired the money through, would not release to me the location of the money pickup without a police order. hell, I cannot even get the police to take this seriously so how am I supposed to get a police order? ugghh!!

I admit its partly my fault for being so gullible and stupid but there has to be banking regulation established to help protect others from this sort of thing happening again. For example, anything over $1,000 is not available til the funds are verified. If the customer gets mad, who cares? Tell them to call me and I will set them straight. It PROTECTS us from this sort of thing. Better to be safe than sorry. I just cannot believe there isnt a "law" that a person cannot withdraw funds from a cashiers check without first having it clear both banks.

I dont think its my responsibility in this matter to pay back Meridian the $2500 I "owe them". We are BOTH victims. I accept my fault and they should acknowledge their lack of security protection on my behalf. They are not doing this at all. They are no accepting any fault in my losing everything in my savings.

Can you help me try to catch the perpetrator(s) or at least try to prevent others from being victims of this sort of crime? Also, there HAS to be some banking regulation established surrounding cashiers check since as I realize now they can be fraudulent and its happening all over the place.

Mark
Scottsdale, Arizona
U.S.A.

This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 12/07/2005 08:03 AM and is a permanent record located here: https://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/meridian-bank-mark-aurrice/scottsdale-arizona/meridian-bank-mark-aurrice-fraudulent-cashiers-check-non-protected-by-meridian-bank-ripof-167132. The posting time indicated is Arizona local time. Arizona does not observe daylight savings so the post time may be Mountain or Pacific depending on the time of year. Ripoff Report has an exclusive license to this report. It may not be copied without the written permission of Ripoff Report. READ: Foreign websites steal our content

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#3 Consumer Suggestion

Phx PD help

AUTHOR: Lorraine - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Wednesday, December 07, 2005

Call Phoenix PD back and ask to be connected to their internet division. Those are the officers you need to file a report with and get help from. The beat cops you talked to don't have the training or knowledge of anything internet and probably looked at this as a civil dispute, so wouldn't take a report.

Good luck.

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#2 Consumer Comment

File a police report.

AUTHOR: Robert - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Wednesday, December 07, 2005

The scammers are long gone. The only person left holding the bag unfortunately is you.

Meridian Bank will be coming after you for the 2500 dollars that you in effect fraudulently withdrew from your account. Don't be surprised if they don't freeze or close your account altogether.

One thing you should do is to file a report with your local law enforcement agency.

Good luck.

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#1 Consumer Comment

You were swindled...

AUTHOR: Ken - (U.S.A.)

POSTED: Wednesday, December 07, 2005

and that's a damned shame, especially at this time of year.

That said, it isn't any fault of the bank. The availability of those funds from the (bad) check is dictated to them by federal law. Unless you have a history of being a bad customer, they were compelled to make the funds available.

The scammers are well aware of how this works, and this is the reason they can pull this off so often.

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