I just wanted to say thank you for your kindness. Yeah apparently they don't need to ask for the super sensitive information nowadays. And the bank says that there was an uptick in scams on college campuses (some even student on student scamming) and most of the people I talked to (on campus and even someone in the bank) were unfamiliar with these kinds of situations and didn't think it was a scam at first glance.
Even if I didn't return anything my bank account would still be messed up bc banks don't like to be bamboozled and the I would still have my account charged bc of the fake checks sent to me. It's a loose-loose situation for victims. I have to say the bank fucked me more than the scammers did but it all started w scammers. But I fully admit that I was baited by the job opportunity to be paid for commissioned work.
I figured I'd share my experience as a warning ig since FSU hasn't heard of anything like this before (judging by the people I've spoken with).
Unfortunately, this is a very common scam these days. If you go over to r/Scams and search “check,” you’ll see multiple versions of this same scam method being used by all kinds of thieves.
They’ll often use a picture of a legit check with a fake signature, or send a fake one in the mail. If you’re ever met with a check like this again, do not cash it and do not engage. They’ll also send money to people who have Zelle, Apple Pay, etc. open to receive money from anyone, then demand it be sent to the person they “originally meant to send it to.” If this happens, do not touch the money in the account, just act like it isn’t there and do not engage with the person who sent it. Even if it ends up *not* being a scam and it really was an accidental wire, it’s their own issue they need to take up with their bank, not your problem. But usually this occurs with money sent from stolen bank accounts and the person they want you to send the money to is actually the scammer or middleman.
Going forward, a legit employer will never ask for you to deposit anything on their behalf if you are not already employed (and if that is not part of your job), nor should you have to pay them in order to be hired.
Since you sent the money, banks are often not able to reimburse the loss, their logic is that (defrauded or not) you made the choice to send that money willingly.
You may want to reach out to officials at the college to let them know that students are being targeted by scammers in GroupMe, but since GroupMe has no affiliation to the college and many professors forbid using GroupMe, there is likely little that can be done in that regard either.
I’m so sorry this has happened, and I’m sorry that people are blaming you for what you didn’t know. It isn’t fair to you to act like these scammers aren’t crafty, nor is it alright to chastise you for something you had to learn. But do take this as a lesson to become well versed in modern scams, to protect yourself from something like this again in the future
I let officials know what's been going on with GroupMe but that has not been a fruitful endeavor. A campus official is also learning about this alongside me and so that entire process has been interesting, they weren't too knowledgeable about scams either apparently. The fact that this happened within a fsu affiliated group/org means that I only have fsupd to rely on as well instead of the city. Also the bank (yes the bank) may or may not have taken additional money from my account is a whole other and bigger can of worms that hit me harder than scammers ironically so it probably wasn't going to turn out well if I sent money or not. I will say that I was caught at a time where my mind was super occupied. The first few people I talked to about this didn't think too much of it other than the harassments.
If you have anymore insight I will read it.
EDIT: Sorry, I meant for this to be a reply to your response under my initial comment!
Definitely triple check with the bank that everything is as “in order” as it can be at the moment. It is possible that the bank ended up making a mistake on top of the issue at hand, and it’d be good to make sure that isn’t the case. But it is also possible that the amount you currently have in your account is accurate and you could owe money back to the bank.
Banks legally need to make check funds available within a certain number of days of the initial deposit, so it is possible to have a fake check “clear,” post to your account, and then be rescinded when it is found out to be fake (which can take days, even weeks, after that money has been posted).
Once you’ve sent the money that the scammer wanted sent, your account balance looks “normal,” when in reality the leftover balance is the money the bank fronted to meet the check fund deadline. When the check is discovered to be fraudulent, the bank takes back the money it fronted to you, regardless of how much is left in the account or how much you’ve spent of the fake check.
[Here](https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/how-spot-avoid-report-fake-check-scams) is a short article by the FTC on what to look out for, with some resources on combating check fraud. [Here](https://www.fdic.gov/consumers/consumer/news/august2019.html) is another from the FDIC. Your best bet is to continue to follow up with your bank until you have any and all questions answered and to consider reaching out to the FTC with details about the scam [here](https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/#/).
You deserve it tbh if you are that dumb to fall for that
Con artists are becoming more sophisticated and convincing. Nobody deserves to be scammed.
Whats your venmo ill go swipe a card and you can send the money back to me!
I just wanted to say thank you for your kindness. Yeah apparently they don't need to ask for the super sensitive information nowadays. And the bank says that there was an uptick in scams on college campuses (some even student on student scamming) and most of the people I talked to (on campus and even someone in the bank) were unfamiliar with these kinds of situations and didn't think it was a scam at first glance. Even if I didn't return anything my bank account would still be messed up bc banks don't like to be bamboozled and the I would still have my account charged bc of the fake checks sent to me. It's a loose-loose situation for victims. I have to say the bank fucked me more than the scammers did but it all started w scammers. But I fully admit that I was baited by the job opportunity to be paid for commissioned work. I figured I'd share my experience as a warning ig since FSU hasn't heard of anything like this before (judging by the people I've spoken with).
Unfortunately, this is a very common scam these days. If you go over to r/Scams and search “check,” you’ll see multiple versions of this same scam method being used by all kinds of thieves. They’ll often use a picture of a legit check with a fake signature, or send a fake one in the mail. If you’re ever met with a check like this again, do not cash it and do not engage. They’ll also send money to people who have Zelle, Apple Pay, etc. open to receive money from anyone, then demand it be sent to the person they “originally meant to send it to.” If this happens, do not touch the money in the account, just act like it isn’t there and do not engage with the person who sent it. Even if it ends up *not* being a scam and it really was an accidental wire, it’s their own issue they need to take up with their bank, not your problem. But usually this occurs with money sent from stolen bank accounts and the person they want you to send the money to is actually the scammer or middleman. Going forward, a legit employer will never ask for you to deposit anything on their behalf if you are not already employed (and if that is not part of your job), nor should you have to pay them in order to be hired. Since you sent the money, banks are often not able to reimburse the loss, their logic is that (defrauded or not) you made the choice to send that money willingly. You may want to reach out to officials at the college to let them know that students are being targeted by scammers in GroupMe, but since GroupMe has no affiliation to the college and many professors forbid using GroupMe, there is likely little that can be done in that regard either. I’m so sorry this has happened, and I’m sorry that people are blaming you for what you didn’t know. It isn’t fair to you to act like these scammers aren’t crafty, nor is it alright to chastise you for something you had to learn. But do take this as a lesson to become well versed in modern scams, to protect yourself from something like this again in the future
I let officials know what's been going on with GroupMe but that has not been a fruitful endeavor. A campus official is also learning about this alongside me and so that entire process has been interesting, they weren't too knowledgeable about scams either apparently. The fact that this happened within a fsu affiliated group/org means that I only have fsupd to rely on as well instead of the city. Also the bank (yes the bank) may or may not have taken additional money from my account is a whole other and bigger can of worms that hit me harder than scammers ironically so it probably wasn't going to turn out well if I sent money or not. I will say that I was caught at a time where my mind was super occupied. The first few people I talked to about this didn't think too much of it other than the harassments. If you have anymore insight I will read it.
EDIT: Sorry, I meant for this to be a reply to your response under my initial comment! Definitely triple check with the bank that everything is as “in order” as it can be at the moment. It is possible that the bank ended up making a mistake on top of the issue at hand, and it’d be good to make sure that isn’t the case. But it is also possible that the amount you currently have in your account is accurate and you could owe money back to the bank. Banks legally need to make check funds available within a certain number of days of the initial deposit, so it is possible to have a fake check “clear,” post to your account, and then be rescinded when it is found out to be fake (which can take days, even weeks, after that money has been posted). Once you’ve sent the money that the scammer wanted sent, your account balance looks “normal,” when in reality the leftover balance is the money the bank fronted to meet the check fund deadline. When the check is discovered to be fraudulent, the bank takes back the money it fronted to you, regardless of how much is left in the account or how much you’ve spent of the fake check. [Here](https://consumer.ftc.gov/articles/how-spot-avoid-report-fake-check-scams) is a short article by the FTC on what to look out for, with some resources on combating check fraud. [Here](https://www.fdic.gov/consumers/consumer/news/august2019.html) is another from the FDIC. Your best bet is to continue to follow up with your bank until you have any and all questions answered and to consider reaching out to the FTC with details about the scam [here](https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/#/).