Check from a scammer bounces victim into jail

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | Wednesday, August 30, 2006 | David Lazarus

[Shimmer128]

San Francisco resident Matthew Shinnick tried to sell a pair of mountain bikes on Craigslist late last year. He attracted a buyer, received a check in the mail -- and ended up handcuffed by police in a downtown Bank of America branch and jailed for almost 12 hours.

BofA calls the bizarre episode "an unfortunate series of events" and says that "clearly and without equivocation, Bank of America regrets what occurred." But the bank says it was only doing its duty by notifying the cops when a bad check surfaced.

It also says Shinnick has no grounds to sue for thousands of dollars in legal costs because of a 2004 state Supreme Court decision that shields institutions and people from liability when reporting suspected crimes to the police.

[Shimmer128]

I don't even know what to say. So this happens and no one is to blame, not the police who left him there for so long, in public. Not the bank, who started all this, who is never to blame, no matter what they do. (shaking head)

[steveo]

I think someone will soon post who is to blame...

[Wings-n-Wind]

It [BA] also says Shinnick has no grounds to sue for thousands of dollars in legal costs...

Yeeaahhh...????? Watch this...

[1rudeboy]

What I don't understand is how the victim spent $14K to clear his own name.

[lovecraft]

BUSH'S FAULT!!!!

Sorry, you asked for it....:-)

[pgyanke]

Does it begin with a "B"?

[wolfcreek]

I guessing he deposited the check in his account and the fact it was a bad check, got past the teller? I bet it was easier for the bank to go after this guy instead of the bad check writer after they noticed THEIR mistake.

[DuxFan4ever]

I had a similar incident. While working in San Diego I made a delivery and received a check from an individual. I even ran the check number through TeleCheck that my employer used at the time. I took the check to the bank to make sure it would go through and had to deal with the police. After being interviewed about the fraud check, they let me go with the bum check.
The only bright side to the story was TeleCheck covered the bum check, which was a few hundred dollars.

[Larry Lucido]

I read the article. All Bank of America did is call the police when someone tried to cash a forged check. I would have done the same. They did nothing wrong.

[TexasTransplant]

Here Hold ma beer! I'm gonna sue!

Between the Feds and B of A this guy has already touched the pooch in an intimate manner. If he is White heterosexual not on welfare between the age of 30 to 50 it may actually cost him more money no matter what he does, just because.

The Criminal Justice System strikes (Taxes) again.

TT

[Onelifetogive]

"We never talked in person," Shinnick said. "We just corresponded by e-mail over a series of weeks."

Shinnick should sue this guy. He caused all the problems. Problem is, Shinnick can't find this guy, because he never met him. Be wary of doing business with people you can't track down...

[TexasTransplant]

Side Bar...

Any apology by B of A or LE should include picking up the tab for defense... but it won't.

TT

[1rudeboy]

What defense? The charges were dropped within 24 hours.

[travlnmn41]

>>BofA calls the bizarre episode "an unfortunate series of events"<<
I really enjoyed that movie.

[stinkerpot65]

Don't ever do business with Bank of America. I've got several horror stories with them - mostly lost deposits.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_of_America#Excessive_overdraft_fees

One of many rip-off practices by this bank:

In February 2006 Bank of America also changed their online bill pay policy to send customers' automated bill payments without debiting the payments from their account until the day after they are processed by the payees' bank. This differs from most online banking customers' previous experience with having the funds immediately debited from their account to help keep their account balance positive, and would seem to be done purely to incur additional overdraft charges.

[Virginia Ridgerunner]

Good lawyers in the SF area apparently are very expensive. At a couple of hundred dollars per hour, that $14,000 could indeed go very quickly.

[eeevil conservative]

I cannot STAND Bank of America!

NO WAY WILL I EVER DO BUSINESS WITH THEM AGAIN!

EVER!

[sportutegrl]

Bizarrely, bail was set at 24K, for a 600 bad check. That means that if you don't have 24 thousand lying around to give to the bank, you can pay a bail bondsman one tenth, or 2400 for them to post bond, but they get to keep the 2400. I expect there is also some money for a lawyer's retainer. This is money paid out that he will not get back.

[Slings and Arrows]

The woman subsequently sued for damages, but the court ruled that all reports to the police are absolutely privileged. In other words, no liability can be connected to telling police of a suspected crime, whether real or not.

Cool! I'm going to call the police and tell them that my next-door neighbor - the one who always lets his dog crap on my lawn - is harboring Osama bin Laden. No liability, right?

[Old Professer]

$4,500 to the bail bondsman, to start...