Received check, then customer stopped payment

[pboy]

I received a check for services rendered to a customer, then discovered that he stopped payment on the check when I looked at my bank statement online. I called the customer and left a message for him to call me about it. Days later, I discover that he has cancelled his cell phone. I go to the house to see if I can locate him, and a neighbor says he has moved out. Putting all this together, there seems to be a clear intent of theft.

I have tried to research this type of situation online, but most posts are by people who have stopped payment, not those who have received such a check. I am going to turn the check over to a collection agency, and I also plan to file a police report.

I am just curious if there any comments about check writers who cancel checks with the intent to defraud. Seems that banks are complicit in this thievery.

On another note, if a person cancels a check, don't they have to make a good faith effort to work with the merchant to solve a matter? What defines a legal reason to cancel a check, and what defines fraud? I find myself in the odd position of asserting that there is a debt, when the real lawbreaker was the check writer.

 

[dee_dub]

I am just curious if there any comments about check writers who cancel checks with the intent to defraud. Seems that banks are complicit in this thievery./QUOTE]
Why do you think that? I don't see it.

if a person cancels a check, don't they have to make a good faith effort to work with the merchant to solve a matter?

No.

What defines a legal reason to cancel a check, and what defines fraud?

There is no such thing as a "legal reason to cancel a cheque". Cancelling a cheque might be fraudulent in some circumstances, but you don't need any reason to cancel one. Fraud is the intentional deception of another person to obtain unlawful gain, or something like that.

I find myself in the odd position of asserting that there is a debt, when the real lawbreaker was the check writer.

Why do you need to prove the debt? Under most banking laws, you can just sue on the unpaid cheque. The cheque is a commitment to pay; if it was cancelled, the commitment was broken.

 

[shafir]

I received a check for services rendered to a customer, then discovered that he stopped payment on the check when I looked at my bank statement online. I called the customer and left a message for him to call me about it. Days later, I discover that he has cancelled his cell phone. I go to the house to see if I can locate him, and a neighbor says he has moved out. Putting all this together, there seems to be a clear intent of theft.

I have tried to research this type of situation online, but most posts are by people who have stopped payment, not those who have received such a check. I am going to turn the check over to a collection agency, and I also plan to file a police report.

I am just curious if there any comments about check writers who cancel checks with the intent to defraud. Seems that banks are complicit in this thievery.

On another note, if a person cancels a check, don't they have to make a good faith effort to work with the merchant to solve a matter? What defines a legal reason to cancel a check, and what defines fraud? I find myself in the odd position of asserting that there is a debt, when the real lawbreaker was the check writer.

On another note, if a person cancels a check, don't they have to make a good faith effort to work with the merchant to solve a matter? What defines a legal reason to cancel a check, and what defines fraud? I find myself in the odd position of asserting that there is a debt, when the real lawbreaker was the check writer.