Wells Fargo Bank THE BRANCH OF WELLS FARGO BANK IN NORTHRIDGE CALIFORNIA SAN FRANCISCO, California

Michael Turko is an Investigative Reporter for a TV station in California.

I am sorry but you apparently got scammed and since you seem to be surprised a lot, don't be surprised if it is not by who you think.  First a CheckSystems record was/is probably the least of your concerns. 

This sounds like a common scam, and I have a feeling that a lot of this will sound very familar to you.  When you got "hired" by this company they probably said that you need to deposit checks into your account because of some(made up) regulations.  A lot of times they use reasons such as taxes, or transfer fees if they did it.  They even make this very tempting telling you that your fee is some huge amount for very little "work".  This is where they play on peoples greed and the feeling that they are getting "money for nothing". 

Then at some point you get a check for something that they are "selling" so you deposit the money into your account.  The check appears to be from a legitimate company in the US.  The problem is that as you find out later it was not.  Once you deposit the check there are government regulations that require a bank to make the funds available after a certain amount of time.  It does not mean that the check has "cleared" or is legitimate.  This can take days if not weeks, because it may take until the business reconciles their accounts at the end of the month to realize there is a bogus check. 

These scams rely on this delay in having you wire money to a foreign country as soon as the money is available before you realize it.  Unfortunately when the check does come back back since you are considered the "Holder in Due Course" YOU are responsible for the amount.  Regardless of the bank you would be held responsible.  If that money is already gone from your account you are basically up the creek unless you can come up with that money some other way.

I would bet that the company in London is fake or had no idea that their name was being used in this scam.  The company in CA was again fake or they had no idea they were being used.  And the people who were telling you to do all of this gave you fake name, addresses, and were actually doing all of this from Canada.

Now, if by some outside chance it was the real company you were working for and it was the real company who sent you the check.  What the heck were you doing depositing that much money in YOUR account?  In addition to that if the company bounced the check you should have gone after them in court for the damages they caused.  At the very least you should have reported them to the DA directly, and let the DA deal with Wells Fargo to get the check.

I am sorry but you apparently got scammed and since you seem to be surprised a lot, don't be surprised if it is not by who you think.  First a CheckSystems record was/is probably the least of your concerns. 

This sounds like a common scam, and I have a feeling that a lot of this will sound very familar to you.  When you got "hired" by this company they probably said that you need to deposit checks into your account because of some(made up) regulations.  A lot of times they use reasons such as taxes, or transfer fees if they did it.  They even make this very tempting telling you that your fee is some huge amount for very little "work".  This is where they play on peoples greed and the feeling that they are getting "money for nothing". 

Then at some point you get a check for something that they are "selling" so you deposit the money into your account.  The check appears to be from a legitimate company in the US.  The problem is that as you find out later it was not.  Once you deposit the check there are government regulations that require a bank to make the funds available after a certain amount of time.  It does not mean that the check has "cleared" or is legitimate.  This can take days if not weeks, because it may take until the business reconciles their accounts at the end of the month to realize there is a bogus check. 

These scams rely on this delay in having you wire money to a foreign country as soon as the money is available before you realize it.  Unfortunately when the check does come back back since you are considered the "Holder in Due Course" YOU are responsible for the amount.  Regardless of the bank you would be held responsible.  If that money is already gone from your account you are basically up the creek unless you can come up with that money some other way.

I would bet that the company in London is fake or had no idea that their name was being used in this scam.  The company in CA was again fake or they had no idea they were being used.  And the people who were telling you to do all of this gave you fake name, addresses, and were actually doing all of this from Canada.

Now, if by some outside chance it was the real company you were working for and it was the real company who sent you the check.  What the heck were you doing depositing that much money in YOUR account?  In addition to that if the company bounced the check you should have gone after them in court for the damages they caused.  At the very least you should have reported them to the DA directly, and let the DA deal with Wells Fargo to get the check.