Retail Me Not Mystery Gift Sweeps

sissy32175

New member
I was one of the big winners. I received my check for $5000. My bank won't cash it and they are saying it was a fraudulent check. Is anyone else having this problem?
 
I remember my credit union would only allow me to deposit a $500 check from hershey sweepstakes into my account. They let me have $200 immediately, but wanted to wait until it cleared to have access to the rest. Congrats!
 
Thanks, it isn't that they would only let me deposit a certain amount. The refuse to cash the check. They even took the check to have their securities dept look into it. Now they don't want to cash the check or give the check back. I have threatened to call a lawyer and the media. We will have to see if that works.
 
Several years ago I had won a check for $2,500 from Better Homes and Gardens Sweepstakes. My bank had me deposit the check into our savings account to make sure it was good. Maybe you should just deposit it into your account, let it clear and then remove the funds. I hope all works out for you! They certainly should not be threatening to keep the check! That's crazy!

Good luck and a huge congrats on your win!
 
My husband is a retired police officer. Neither him or I are lawyers so please don't take my comments for legal advice. Per FDIC regulations, if a banking institute has reason to believe a check is fraudulent, they can confiscate it but law enforcement must be contacted. At that time, the law enforcement officer tasked with the investigation will take it from there. If you have documentation from Retail Me Not, then it can be simply proven you are a victim. Again, please contact a lawyer if this scenario occurs.
 
Congrats on your big win! How awful that your joy in winning is dampened. I would look forward to finding a new bank as soon as I could.
 
Do you have an email stating that you won? Did you have to fill out paperwork and have it notarized and sent back?? If you have that, then it could help prove that the check is real.If they just sent you a check without you having to return paperwork then I'd say fraud. There was only one winner for that sweeps I believe.
 
I do have the email. I have a copy of the paper work I had to fill out and send back. The bankers wouldn't even look at them. I tried to deposit the check and have it held until it cleared. The bank wouldn't do that. And there were 4 big winners of this contest. I even copied the winners list. The banker was just being a bitch. (Pardon my French)
 
Super weird. I'd contact law enforcement, a lawyer, call the promo co and/or Retail Me Not and have them call the bank, take my money out of that bank, and file a complaint with the BBB. It's not that they 'have' to cash it, or even believe it, but they should at the very least do a little due diligence before just proclaiming it 'fraudulent', taking it, and denying you access to your money. I usually take those checks to the promo/sponsors bank if possible to cash but I've had them look at me funny too.

On a side note, I had an eprize check a year or two ago that was denied because they changed their name and checks to HelloWorld, but didn't notify the bank of the change. The bank said they shouldn't even have checks for that acct with HelloWorld on them. HelloWorld had to call to straighten it out and I had to go back (to their bank) and talk to the person that was contacted by them. Big pain. I'm sure if I deposited it in my acct, it would've came back as fraudulent or suspicious.
 
WOW!!! I would get as manager at the bank and at least get the check back!! How do they even have proof it's no good?? OMG!! I'd be pissed royal!! What bank do you use?? Just so I don't use it...Please let us know if you get this straightened out.In the meantime, you could always ask the sponsor to cancel that check and send you a new one explaining that the bank took it and won't give it back. Or see if you can have them call the bank to validate it for you.
 
Also I would give the bank one last shot to at least deposit the check, then take your paperwork straight to a lawyer and when you win make THEM pay for all your time and fees!! What A-holes that bank has!!
 
Bad Banking

I do have the email. I have a copy of the paper work I had to fill out and send back. The bankers wouldn't even look at them. I tried to deposit the check and have it held until it cleared. The bank wouldn't do that. And there were 4 big winners of this contest. I even copied the winners list. The banker was just being a bitch. (Pardon my French)

For me, once this is woked out, I'd find a new banker.
 
if you have a different bank... you can try them too or the other branches... I have same situation with our Insurance Check they dont even try it. and so I went to the same but different branches and have no proble, depositing a check...
 
The same thing happened to my sister. Her check was a bit bigger so we expected we would be spending time at the bank. We had them call the sponsor to confirm the name of the winner. Even after all of the proof they ended up depositing the check into an empty account until it cleared. They didn't want it in her account because if it was fake then she would be the one that's liable. They were extremely rude to us and to the sponsor.
 
First I would like to say congratulations on such a great win. Second I'd say to contact the company who wrote the check ASAP. Wishing you all the best of luck getting this straightened out! Best of luck.
 
I hope things have been resolved favorably for you. I think it is strange that they took your check and won't give it back. I mean, in my mind, that's stealing! Even if they refuse to cash it, I don't think they have the right to keep it. Please let us know how this works out.
 
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