Man averts losing $57,000 to scammer, but still can't get his money back from the bank
NORTHBROOK, Ill. (CBS) -- We've told you time and time again about scammers swindling people in our area – and banks refusing to refund their defrauded customers.
The victim in this story got lucky, but then got stuck in limbo. A suburban father and son stopped a $57,000 check from making it to a criminal – but then they couldn't get their money back from the bank.
CBS 2's Lauren Victory stepped in and got involved on their behalf.
Reams of paperwork document all the back-and-forth that has gone on between Chase, Wells Fargo, and Gene Krichevsky. Krichevksy never thought it would require so much paperwork to rectify his problem.
Krichevsky's problem with the big banks began when he called about a rare 1963 Corvette in a Craigslist ad.
He said, 'Well, I have a lot of people interested in the vehicle,' Krichevsky said. "(I said), 'I will pay you $2,000 more to secure the deal.'"
And with that, the hopeful Corvette owner brought a $57,000 check to Wells Fargo. He received a receipt – but didn't get a title for the car.
"Then I realized there's something not right. 10:46:56," Krichevsky said.
Krichevsky's son, Mickey, recognized his dad was scammed.
"If it seems too good to be true," said Mickey Krichevsky.
Mickey urged the elder Krichevsky to rush to a Northbrook Chase Bank branch where he is a customer. He tried to stop the $57,000 from leaving his account.
"They said the check already went through to Wells Fargo," said Gene Krichevsky.
So Gene Krichevsky scrambled to visit a Wells Fargo branch – and received some encouraging news. The money had not transferred into the scammer's account yet.
This was because Wells Fargo automatically places a hold on checks with amounts so high.
"There's so many people that are victims of fraud - and they send their money, and the money's gone," said Mickey Krichevsky. "What made this so unique and so different was that we caught it in time."
But this did not amount to a clean happy ending. Remember all the paperwork Gene Krichevsky had to deal with?
It's a representation of the ordeal he has had getting his money back.
"It's horrible," said Gene Krichevsky. "It's been a nightmare for over a year."
Six months in, Wells Fargo wrote that they needed just one document – a letter of indemnity - from Chase to release the funds. Five months after that letter from Wells Fargo was issued, Krichevsky was still in limbo.
"I did my part, fully," said Gene Krichevsky.
"The money never left the bank - and we can't seem to still get it back," said Mickey Krichevsky, "Thirteen, 14 months later, we're still just being bounced back and forth."
CBS 2's Victory has been working on this story for weeks, and we fully expected to end it by telling you the money is back where it belongs.
Unfortunately, that is not the case.
Chase told us "administrative lapses between banks" caused the problem and promised to expedite the customer's $57,000 credit.
More than a week ago, Wells Fargo said it had resolved the matter with Chase – but would not tell us what that meant.
We can also tell you Gene Krichevsky remains baffled – because he still doesn't have his money.
UPDATE: Late Wednesday afternoon, the Krichevskys reached out to us to let us know that a $56,781 deposit finally appeared in Gene Krichevsky's account.
"THANK YOU for everything. Without your initial interest in our story, and all of the work from Lauren and the rest of your team we would never have gotten a single penny back. We are eternally grateful to you all," texted Mickey Krichevsky.
You may recall that original check was for exactly $57,000. Chase tells us it "credited Mr. Krichevsky the full amount we received from Wells Fargo."
A Wells Fargo spokesperson could not explain what happened to the other $219.
Despite the curious missing money, Mickey Krichevsky added, "Honestly if that's the price for putting this all behind us, it's the greatest deal ever."