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.

[Virginia Ridgerunner]

Yep, I used to have a credit account with BoA and got screwed when they processed my payment at 12:30 p.m. rather than at 12:00 on the due date, even though my check had arrived the day before. I lost $29 in a late fee, but BoA lost a customer. Crooks!

[1rudeboy]

Yeah, I'm beginning to get it now.

[Wings-n-Wind]

Don't miss the boat, there my beer-holdin' buddy....

All the "bars" are state laws and state Supreme Court decisions...

Simply go to Federal Court... kick butt...

If we leave this particular (smelly) foot-in-the-door on our basic rights -- they will soon be "all over the house"... like Kalifornia already is in too many areas of life and liberty.

I would not hesitate... as soon as BA gets a black eye fom just serving a civil rights complaint... THEIR legal bills will begin to go up exponentially --they will make things right...

I s'pect there bubba....

[stinkerpot65]

Several hundred BOA horror stories:

http://www.epinions.com/finc-Financial_Services-Online-Banks-Bank_of_America/display_~reviews

Here's one of my little stories:

1. I made a deposit. They lost it. $400 in overdraft fees.

2. Went in with deposit slip. They said they would fix it that night. Next day - no deposit - more overdraft fees.

3. A week later, finally got $2000 deposit reinstated, but not enough to cover overdraft fees with they were still "researching".

4. In the end, they stole $800 because they lost a deposit slip and I was never able to get it back. Finally had to close account and switch banks.

[TexasTransplant]

Bump and dittos!

[Fury]

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.

HSBC does this as well.

[willyd]

Bank of America is a POS company. In Houston they are teaming with the City of Houston to provide locations for illegals to gather to find work. It is an absolute joke. They want illegals to have bank accounts as soon as possible so they can start charging them outrageous fees as well as soon as possible.

[wbill]

Shinnick said he was never read his rights. He said he was instructed by one of the cops to keep his mouth shut and not say anything.

This statement makes the story smell funny.

[goldstategop]

No one is to blame for ruining your life. If you're the innocent victim and have no recourse, I hardly call it justice.

(No more Olmert! No more Kadima! No more Oslo! )

[Fury]

Another thing that HSBC does not do is provide you an on-line way to see BillPay payments that have not yet been presented. You have to go to your check register to see what is not paid. No problem with that, but one of the selling points of online BillPay made by HSBC is that it is fast, easy and convenient. It's certainly not convenient.

[stinkerpot65]

I'm with Washington Mutual now. Much better than BOA.

[Atlas Sneezed]

B of A
Bunch of A...

[monday]

"Yep, I used to have a credit account with BoA and got screwed when they processed my payment at 12:30 p.m. rather than at 12:00 on the due date, even though my check had arrived the day before. I lost $29 in a late fee, but BoA lost a customer. Crooks!"

This is the real cost of doing business the BofA way. It's going to cost them way more than $14,000 in lost business due to this bad publicity. Anyone who reads about this will never be a customer and will each probably tell at least ten others who will also never be a BofA customer. BofA Losers.

[Glenn]

This is what happens when everyone becomes an agent of the state.

What the bank should have done was refuse the check for valid grounds and send the man on his way. That's the proper business function.

[TimesDomain]

Someone will post who's to blame???

Simple ... "2004 state Supreme Court decision"

The blame, as usual is the fault of LAWYERS - the harbinger of every plague against freedoms and common sense this nation has had for over 200 years!

[monday]

" It involved a woman who presented an unusually large check for deposit from her stockbroker.

A teller believed the check was phony and called the police. The check turned out to be real, but by then the police had arrived and had handcuffed the woman.

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."

So California has become a police state where false accusations against people are allowed? Whats to stop this guy from calling the police and accusing the bank manager of being a child molester? He could say he thought he looked like a sketch he saw of a perpetrator on Americas Most Wanted.

Apparently that sort of thing is allowed in California although it wouldn't fly anywhere else in the country.

[cynwoody]

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...

How is that a ripoff? They are leaving the funds in the payer's account a few days longer, so the payer is getting a little more float. If it's a non-electronic payee, it will take several days for the BofA check to arrive, plus a day or two for it to be cashed and clear. Of course, we're not talking much money here, given the usuriously low rates they pay depositors, but that's a different ripoff.

[stinkerpot65]

http://www.ruinedcredit.com/

Another great story ...

[dasboot]

There are lots of who's.

One hour or less of a cursory investigation, and application of reason, could have prevented the bad arrest.

But that would be old fashioned police work.

Not necessarily the responding officer's fault: it's the new 'paradigm'. That's where the fault lies. Work backward from there to figure out 'who'.

[monday]

"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?"

You live in S. Carolina. I doubt that $hit would fly there. Only in the police state of California.