Note to self. Do not patronize a bank that will call the police on you for depositing a fraudulent 3rd party check.

Ugh. Crappy that she spent the night in the pokey, but at least she wasn't on the hook for the 3K.

@jimv2000: Either banks do too much or too little prevent fraud. I would not want to get arrested over this but I would at least be grateful that they recognized something was wrong with the check if I couldn't.

@jimv2000: I assumed that was common procedure, if they believe the check to be fraudulent.

I doubt a night in jail can give someone an injection of common sense, but I can always hope. Poor lady.

I may be mistaking a lack of common sense for stupidity here. I cannot decide.

It seems we don't know the whole story here. If she kicked up a fuss and refused to comply with the police, I can perhaps see why she was brought in. If she was just sitting there like a deer in headlights wondering what was going on, then this was a dick move on the part of the bank and police.

Certainly a lot of trouble would have been avoided if all the involved parties just sat down and discussed the situation.

@umbriago: common sense isnt so common my friend.

WTF does this girl live under a rock? How could she NOT understand it's a scam ? Whatever, as long as she dosen't start pulling the race card.

How could she possibly have spent the night in jail? She should have been offered bail and a phone call.

@Hoss: She couldn't post bail because the bank wouldn't let her post the check. Catch-22.

@jimv2000:

I think I'd prefer to patronize a bank that would call the police on a fraudulent 3rd party check. But that's because I wouldn't deposit a fraudulent 3rd party check.

you do understand there's more to this story, right?

@umbriago: I vote for stupid. She took a mystery shopper job and cashed a check from a junk e-mail and 'wasn't thinking about scam at all'. Damn.

@Hoss: No charges had been filed so she couldn't have posted bail. In addition, a phone call isn't much help if you don't have someone to call that can get you out.

@madame_underpants: You mean like you just did?

@madanthony: That's pretty unreasonable. There is no way to tell if a check is fraudulent.

@madame_underpants: If you know something more, post it. If you simply don't believe the story as written, that's another matter, and since you haven't given any information, I'm guessing it's the latter.

@madame_underpants: you do plan to elaborate, right?

@ncpeters: Hopefully there was someone with her kids. But I didn't know you could arrest someone, detain them in a jail, and not have charges against them. (Unless it was a personal safety issue which this is not the case)

@madanthony: Well, I assume you wouldn't knowingly deposit a fraudulent check, but what if you had no reason to suspect it?

@madame_underpants:

Yeah man! I mean, she's black right so of course the first thing she'll do is blame the police for racially profiling her! That's what THEY always do.

@madame_underpants: I don't even know how to reply to that. Are you not aware that you just made race an issue, and not her? Does it only bother you when other people make it the issue? Is it somehow OK for you to do so, but not others?

Maybe I should just feel sorry for you.

"Brooklyn Center Police said that they are still investigating and have not determined yet whether McGhee will be charged."

That's absurd. Everyone knows she was almost scammed, and they are STILL thinking about charging her, the victim?

You mean there aren't random people out there willing to pay me to do mystery shopping!?

Next thing you know, you'll be telling me that there's no such thing as check processing from home...

@MauriceCallidice: I think she did in her previous post...

They called the police because she was black and trying to committ fraud. It's called profiling. Happens every day. Want to be if she was white this would have been handled differently?

@madame_underpants: Either she got a long rap sheet or this town is utterly racist, or both. Say it

I was a mystery shopper for about three months and it worked out okay. It took great self control to not peek from under the blindfold, though.

@jimv2000:
No kidding. The bank could have just told her the check was no good and assessed her fees out the wazoo, like they usually do. It's scary that you could be arrested for something like that.

Although I don't think I'd ever deposit a fraudulent check, I still thinks it sucks that she got screwed over twice.

@RecordStoreToughGuy:

By not responding to Nigerian spam, I'm fairly confidant that I've reduced my chances of depositing a fake check by 99.9999% or so.

And who better than the cops to determine if the check was deposited knowingly or not?

@madame_underpants:
You're an idiot. And a racist. There, I just pulled the race card.

Seems to me having the lady arrested and detained for a night was WAY overboard.

After all the bank has the account and contact information, it was not a violent crime (even if she was aware that she was attempting fraud), and it's a huge assumption to assume that just because you are the depositor that you are a co-conspirator.

@hungryhomer: A dick move by a bank? Unheard of! A dick move by a police officer? Preposterous!

@nucwin83: Supposedly there is another good home job as a "re-shipper"...

At least good for all the Nigerians scamming goods out of the US from companies which do not ship to Nigeria...

One of Chris Hansen's less dramatic pieces:
[www.msnbc.msn.com]

I saw the show broadcast and absolutely loved the 'net pictures sent to one guy from his supposed girlfriend- absolutely bogus pics...

@Psychosocial: On one hand I have to agree with you, on the other hand I dont think this is a topic you want to bring up on this board.

@Hoss:
I don't know if her arrest is the result of racism or just her ignorance. The only color that seems to matter when it comes to justice is green.

@jimv2000: i know it doesn't seem like it, but in this situation, she is LUCKY the cops were called.

if she had completed the steps in the scam, she would be out $2700 & could also land in jail (for a lot longer than a nite).

so, i believe the proper lesson to be learned is, "educate yourself so you don't get scammed".

@madame_underpants: You're not good at this. at least go back and comment on your earlier comment about the race card.

@tbax929: coming off the heels of whatever that buffoon's name in Cambridge is its not that hard to believe.

@madame_underpants: Too bad you had to make a ridiculous statement like that. It was uncalled for.

@Hoss:

"She should have been offered bail and a phone call."

Not always. I'm a bail bondsman. Sometimes , a (suspected) crime is of a nature that a person must appear before a magistrate who will then set the bail.I don't know Minnesota law , but a check the size of whats described in the story would make it a felony sized offence (note British spelling) , and thus subject to being set by a judge.Unless your county has 24 hour Magistrate-on call service ,that means a night (at least) in jail. Maybe not fair ,but that's the way it works.

"Hey Snarkysnake" !! (you might exclaim) " Would you sign the bond for this poor woman and send her home to her kids ? "

"Probably " , (I would reply). If she explained the situation in a forthright manner and just seemed to be caught up ina garden variety scam ,yeah, sure. BUT>>>

IF I had ANY suspicion that she was part of the scam , she could rot in jail for all I care . (Indeed , there are two Nigerian scammers in my county's jail at this moment that are awaiting arraignment for an identity theft hustle).Just make it clear that you are the victim, and not a perpetrator.

Seems like the issue might be that she tried to cash the check, rather than deposit it. If she had deposited the check and cut a check for the remaining $2400, then the check might have bounced later and then she would have been responsible for all of it.

So, it seems like she got off easy with a night in jail, that is if she didn't already send the scammer 2400 bucks.

@Shoelace: And the email was in her spam folder!

My wife was a mystery shopper for over a year, there are plenty that are legit. But its actual real work most were a pain in the ass. and the pay is generally low and not worth it. After doing it a while you get better and better jobs. and can actually make some money and get some rather nice free stuff. I think the best one she had was 3 nights in Reno with $100 to gamble with and free food. for that one we had to pay first and get reimbursed though. Took them 3 months to finally pay us back too. She had quite a few gas station jobs where the pay was basically 3 gallons of gas reimbursed. when gas was at $4+ a gallon it was actually worth doing.

@Adrienne Willis:

That "buffoon" is a pretty big damn deal, which is why it made headlines in the first place. He's a scholar, and not remotely known for racial pot-stirring. He has always advocated a multicultural rather than a race-based approach to racial issues. You don't know who he is, precisely because he is not a race-card puller. Time may tell that he reacted to this situation emotionally, but you would too if you got arrested on your doorstep for no other reason than that you "looked suspicious."

If you read the story, she seems to be a woman who has her head on straight and she was embarassed that she was taken in by the fraud. I have more sympathy for people who have temporary lapses in judgment than people who turn around and then say, "but why would someone do this to me?" I have no sympathy for naive people. Some people are just jerks. For some reason, this woman didn't get any red flags, but hopefully she learned her lesson. And though she had to spend a night in jail, at least she didn't lose any money.

Race does not play into this in any way. Stop using it as a crutch.

@madanthony: Sometimes you don't know its a fraudulent check. I used to sell a lot of goods on ebay and an individual wanted to pay approximately $7000 worth of minibikes with a check. I took it to my bank and said I don't know if this check is fraudulent or not it came from a purchaser on eBay. Well a couple days later they tried to cancel my account and assess a ton of fees. Luckily it had been noted on my account to check into the validity of the check.

@Adrienne Willis: Ahem, the "buffoon" in question being the highly respected Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., who was arrested in his own home after providing valid ID and proving he had a right to be there? Would that be the "buffoon" to which you are referring?

@Psychosocial:

We don't know how suspicious that check looked. I mean, she pulled it out of her spam folder so she obviously wouldn't have noticed anything suspicious about the check itself.

Unless later information shows that the bank teller investigated the check because she didn't believe a black woman could find $2700 to deposit, it's premature to say that this was racially motivated. I think calling the police is an appropriate response to suspected fraud. Bank tellers are not qualified to investigate the motives of a customer in attempting to cash a fraudulent check.