So my roommate is getting Free Money, what the heck?

[Left_Hand_of_Dorkness]

@Dewey Finn

And of course it was seriously optimistic of him to go ahead and spend the money right away.

Optimistic? Gozu, you know your roommate better than any of us, but I’m starting to have a sneaking suspicion of just who wrote up that counterfeit check. . . .

Daniel

[Gozu]

If you think of the 4Ks as an interest free loan, he’s not really worse off for it. It certainly came at a time when he needed the money. Still, i’m certain he didn’t do it or else he wouldn’t have told anyone about it.

It seems that we’ll never know who made that check in the first place…

[Cardinal]

@1010011010

You never signed the loan contract, and didn’t use the money for anything. You were just holding on to it until you could figure out where it came from, yeah… that’s the ticket. So it amounts to being an interest free loan when you give them their money back and you’ve got a couple months worth of interest on $60k

I’ll bet that the act of cashing the check automatically accepts all kinds of conditions, the most of which is the whopping interest charges accruing very quickly. So it’s not interest free. How dumb could the half-scamming company be?

Yes, I saw that it was counterfeit. Why would someone be mailing out fake checks? What would he gain?

[MinniePurl]

@Cardinal

Why would someone be mailing out fake checks? What would he gain?

Someone who’s pissed off at Wachovia? Only thing I can figure.

[Gozu]

@MinniePurl

Someone who’s pissed off at Wachovia? Only thing I can figure.

Yeah, it’s weird, maybe it was an attempted scan and the would-be scammer couldn’t get a hold of my roommate’s phone or email to convince him to send him real money before the check bounced. Or maybe the scammer forgot. I don’t know, it’s definitely weird.

[Mr.Slant]

@Gozu

Ok, more news.

The alledged issuing bank (Wachovia) called my roommate and told him that the check was a counterfeit. His bank hasn’t contacted him yet.

He’s obviously going to have to pay his bank back the money. We’ll see what kind of attitude they take about this.

Based on discussions I’ve seen bankers have on the boards on bankersonline.com, he has now become a schmuck with a $4K overdrawn account.
Dollars to donuts he’ll be getting daily phone calls from their collections/call center folks beginning within the next week. If he doesn’t make with the $4K inside of a week, they’ll probably close his account and blacklist him at Chexsystems and/or Telecheck.
If funds aren’t forthcoming, expect this debt to be treated like any other $4K collection item. It’ll pass to external debt collectors, and will likely result in a lawsuit against him if they have any reason to believe he has worthwhile assets seize or wages to garnish.
At the same time, bank investigators are likely to give him a call and try to see what the story is. They may try other vectors to learn more about the situation, but for only $4K, there’s a limit to how far they go, especially if they feel they’re throwing good money after bad.
If their company detectives discover a friendly linkage between your roomie and the sender of these checks, expect the FBI to get involved, and to have to find a new roommate or begin paying your own rent.
If you guys are approaching a lease renewal point, end of semester (if you’re in a dorm), whatever, and you have the option of getting a new roommate or moving, I’d personally choose getting a new roommate.