Fake Bank Draft

Contains_Mild_Peril

h755bpx wrote:

Thats the quandry. The money was for a car, I put down a grand non refundable deposit, so dont have the cash! I can sell the watch still but that will take time!

Was it an eBay auction? If so, have you tried sending the next highest bidder a 2nd chance offer in case they still want it? You might be lucky and be able to sell it quickly that way.
In the meantime, as others have advised, explain the situation to the money shop and appear as co-operative as possible.

mirakl

If you have any problems with the police point them to https://www.aa419.org. There they'll get a full explanation on what has happened to you and many others.

soolin

Personally I would borrow money to repay the shop.

These high street shops are very quick to go to law, and the last thing you want is a money laundering charge or indeed any other charge as your registration with the FSA may be at risk.

Is there any chance at all that you can go to HR at work and explain the situation and ask for an advance against your salary, basically anything to get the shop happy?

Or how about pawning the watch..there are pawn shops in most areas if you look in Yellow pages.

Soo

rjm2k1

h755bpx wrote:

I sent the guy a fax saying how unimpressed I was that he felt the need to discuss this with my colleague, as this could have implications, my boss is not happy and i work in financial services, so this type of thing doesnt look good!

I have offered to pay back in installments, but said I will only discuss it via written letter or email due to what he did.

Explain the situation to your boss, it has nothing to do with work. I would have thought that if this did have an impact on you at work, you might be in a position to sue the guy at the shop for something.

Syman

could you possibly ask the shop to hold the watch as surity against the £1070 until it is paid.

obviously get a receipt and such like.

Also report it to the police any way explaining exactly what has happened. give a copy of the crime number or CAD report number to the shop so they can check if they want to.

you are hardly likely do do that if you are the guilty party, and should the shop get a bit stroppy about things you got in there first (so to speak)

rjm2k1

mclaren wrote:

nah, the only thing that is as good as cash is a postal order.

Bankers draft is just like a cheque to a degree im afraid

Nope, even a postal order can bounce!

Crossed ones need to clear just like cheques if paid in through your bank. Even uncrossed ones could have been stopped (reported lost, or stolen) or be forgeries.

The only thing that is as good as cash, is cash (assuming it's not fake cash!).

Tirian

h755bpx wrote:

Hi All!

I am in a quandry! I was selling a valuable watch, an "Irish" buyer approached me and duly sent me a Bankers Draft for the full value (I haven't shipped the watch). I took the draft to my local money shop who agreed to advance me £1,070 and pay me the additional £2,000 when it cleared, no problem I thought.

It turns out the draft is a fake, the buyer has gone AWOL obviously and now the money shop phoned up my work and when told I was unavailable told my colleague that I had deposited a fake bank draft with him and owe him £1,070 and had 24 hours to pay back or he will phone the police!

Advice needed desperately!

I find it hard to believe that you accepted an advance until the draft cleared and yet thought that the draft was 'as good as cash'. Sounds more to me like you knew the situation, but thought you were safe so took a risk by putting the money down on a car and are now a bit scared.

Nothing wrong with that, apart from being a bit foolish - but really, don't try to say that you accepted an advance in lieu of clearing but didn't realise anything could go wrong. That just makes no sense.

Best suggestion so far, as far as I can tell, is to go to the shop with all the details and see if they will hold the watch as security till you sell it for real. However, having received a fake bank draft from you they may not be convinced that you will leave them a genuine watch, so be prepared for them to turn this down.

But first and foremost, you need to keep the communication channel open with the shop - tell them exactly what happened. Yes, the guy acted very unprofessionally (and possibly illegally) by disclosing private financial information to your colleague - but look at it from his point of view for a moment. He is £1000 out of pocket - he is probably very scared, and thought that the person he spoke to was in on the con. Talk to the guy as soon as possible and be completely honest with him about where the money is, and what has happened - otherwise he will call the police.

In the meantime, if you can't make any other arrangement with him then you will just have to borrow the money from elsewhere to refund him. He gave you the advance on trust, and you chose to use that money before you knew it was safely yours - it is your responsibility to sort it out the consequences of that I'm afraid. Talk to your bank about a temporary overdraft or loan.

If, as you say, you can cope with the financial loss then this shouldn't be a problem to you.

Tirian

h755bpx wrote:

I sent the guy a fax saying how unimpressed I was that he felt the need to discuss this with my colleague, as this could have implications, my boss is not happy and i work in financial services, so this type of thing doesnt look good!

I have offered to pay back in installments, but said I will only discuss it via written letter or email due to what he did.

You are being unreasonable. Think about the situation for one moment - the only person who is actually out of pocket at this point is the guy in the shop. By a grand. He is extremely unlikely to agree to only communicate on this matter by email (impersonal, unverifiable) or letter (slow and no way of knowing if it is received).

If you start dictating to him, he is just going to go to the police. If you honestly want to avoid that, pick up the phone and talk to him.

Furthermore, bear in mind that if you want to pay him back in installments, it will be entirely reasonable for him to expect interest to be added - or that he won't accept this resolution. Talk to him. Find somewhere to borrow the money to pay him back.

Seriously, don't make more difficulties for yourself. If this goes to the police and it comes out that you have spent the money on a car deposit you could be looking at all sorts of trouble, including obtaining goods by deception. I guarantee that your boss will like that even less than a phone call to the office.

Tirian

rjm2k1

One point which hasn't been mentioned so far, the guy in the shop only gave an advance, is this because he didn't want to shell out all of the money, or he did it as standard practice just in case the draft turned out to be dodgy? I assume that these money shops are franchises.

f1charlie

What was the advantage of taking the draft to a money shop and not to the bank? I'm not quite sure what the money shop is, but I assume they take a cut from the draft?