r/legaladvice•
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Fell for a scam and lied about it, now I can't get an account with my old bank ever again M17/NY

Okay this one is a doozy. Also not sure if this is the correct sub to ask, but my friends recommended I come here.

tl;dr A man attempted a fake check scam on me, I couldn't get him the money and when he disappeared I thought that was the end of it. I lied to my parents about what happened and now because I deposited a phony check I can't use my old bank ever again. Please, any advice here.

Okay so let's just get into it. I am seventeen years old and live in New York State. I was hanging out waiting for a friend a few weeks ago when a man walks up to me clad in a (insert mobile provider of your choice here) uniform. He strikes up a conversation then asks me to help him out. Here's the story as he told it nearly verbatim.

"Hey, my account is overdrafted and I can't deposit my pay. Could you help me out,deposit the check and take out the cash? I'll even give you some for your time."

So I'll spare the details of the interaction, but I end up not being able to take the cash out because as I would become painfully aware it takes a few days for a check to go through. Now before anyone asks, both of my previous employers used direct deposit so I was used to getting my pay immediately. I haven't deposited a check in years. It's a dumb thing to forget, but it's important in explaining my reaction.

I simply tell the man I can't take the check out and he, visibly annoyed, leaves while apologizing for wasting my time. I just ignore the interaction and upon coming home don't mention it to my father or his girlfriend because I thought it would just make me look stupid.

A few days pass and the check clears. There is nearly a thousand dollars in there that wasn't there before. I quickly put two and two together but play dumb when confronted about it. Now I'm in over my head because I've lied to my dad and if he finds out I lied then it's a whole new issue with him. So we get on the phone with (insert bank) and I (stupidly) continue to play dumb. So they just decide to send me a new debit card, tell me to change my pin, and I think I can move on with my life. But when the card arrives a few days later, I can't activate it.

I try to activate it on my end but even though my debit card is in my name I can't call support without my dad because he's the one that opened the account. So after a while of dealing with them (still playig dumb), they blacklist my SSN and close my account. As it stands, I can never open an account with my old bank ever again. Is there anything I can do to reverse this? Do I have any legal standing to? I'm afraid this whole thing will mess up my credit and dealings with banks for the rest of my life.

(And for those of you scrolling through casting moral judgement on me for lying, you'll be pleased to know I fessed up and I'm now grounded until I move out for college)

Posted Jun 4, 2020, 11:45 PM UTC

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