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I was contacted about a part-time job over the Internet about being a mystery shopper for Wal-Mart. I did not answer this email until I contacted Wal-Mart and asked them if they had mystery shoppers, and I was told yes they do. Therefore, I answered the email and got my first assignment, which was comparing the money center at walmart and to their competitors. I was mailed a check for $3800.00 and was told to keep $300.00 for my time which I considered reasonable due to making an average of $100 to $125 daily working as a transcriptionist. I took the check to my Randolph Brooks Federal Credit Union (my bank) and cashed it, and the bank did not say anything was wrong with the check, so I knew this was legitimate. I then took a certain amount to the money transfer department at Wal-Mart to transfer money to another Wal-Mart. I was to survey the service, cleanliness, quickness of reponse, bathrooms, and note who the representative was and how fast and courteous the person was. Then, I took the rest of the amount to a Western Union location and surveyed again the same. After doing this, I had to send an email with my report and the reference numbers for the transfer. They reported I did a great job and they would send me via Fed X my second assignment. I received my second assignment which was the same amount and took it to the RBFCU. RBFCU put it on a hold for two days, and I understood after asking why the check the first time cleared and the bank rep said she did not know, but the computer was signifying that it had to be on a two day hold, but that I could go ahead and pull 1500.00 of the $3800.00, which I did. I contacted the ShopResource my email and told them and they did not seem alarmed or anything, just said they will await for me to complete my assignment. Two days later, I go to the bank and pull the rest of the money and again go forward and do a transfer from Wal-Mart to a different location Cash Advance Location. The four assignment followed three days later, but this time when I went to RBFCU, and the bank teller told me they were going to put the check on a seven day hold to make sure the funds cleared before I could draw on them. I asked her if there was a problem and she said that this was flagged, and RBFCU just wanted to protect my interest. I said okay no problem because I was glad they were looking out for me. The next thing I know Rose from Business Services is calling me telling me that the checks were fraudulent and my account was hold and I owed them $3,900.00. I was flabergasted and told her I did not understand this. She said that because the cash was withdrawn from my account I was responsible to pay the bank back this amount. I told her I did not have the money that it was a job I was doing and she told me I was probably scammed. I could not believe it. I asked her what could I do and that I would go to the police and she said being that all transactions were done on the Internet that there was nothing the police could do. The fraud department at RBFCU contacted me and told me I owed the money to the bank and it was my responsibility. I told the lady that I did not have that kind of money and I did not have the money because I transferred it to do a job. She told me I was scammed and that it was not their responsibility because I was the one that got scammed. I told her that I rely on RBFCU to catch these things because they are a bank and that I did not understand why they could clear one check without not verifying the funds available and it took three checks for them to catch this. They say it happens all the time. Well if this is so, then WHY DID RBFCU NOT CATCH THIS UNTIL 3 CHECKS LATER. With today's technology I just do not see how this could have happened. HEB automatically pulls the funds out of your account when you write a check for groceries and if it is not good then your check is not accepted. How is it that a large bank like RBFCU did not catch this. I am so upset about this. I rely on them to protect me against such things and they did not and now I am the one who has to pay for money which I do not have. I can't believe I was scammed. Now RBFCU is refusing to work with me on a payment plan. I am at my wits end. With the economy the way it is my paycheck has not gone up, but food and fuel costs have gone up significantly. I am trying to resolve this and having difficulty doing so. Is it because I am not all together poor, but middle class. It seems we middle class always end up getting socked. Is there anything you can do. I kept all the emails even the FedX paper, but was told by the police that it would not do any good because they use people like me to do all their dirty work and the only prints would be another victim like myself. I really though this was Wal-Mart I was working for and now I am just feeling like my guts were punched. Do you have any suggestions. Please help me. Maybe $3,900.00 is not much to some people, but it is very much to me.

C.Tuttle
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