Consumer complaint received 2023-03-10
Product: Checking or savings account — Checking account
Issue: Managing an account — Deposits and withdrawals
Company: BANK OZK (GA)

We made deposits to the Bank of OZK account using XXXX  and XXXX, these are checks widely used in the transportation industry and blank ones can be found all over the place at almost every truck stop or place selling diesel and doing repairs to semi trucks including QTs. It's a form of a check where somebody issues you a code for a certain amount of money you write the code down and amount on the check. When a code is issued for a $ $ amount it is automatically on that code. Then one is supposed to Call XXXX  or XXXX and obtain an authorization code which also goes on the check. When a bank receives these checks before depositing them in the account there is a big red box on the check that says do not deposit until you call to verify. All Bank XXXXf OZK was supposed to do is call the number on the check to verify funds and deposit it, instead they just deposited and did not verify. When the checks returned they said we were trying to defraud them. When detectives came over I explained to them how easy it is to get this done. The detective told us we just need to cancel all the checks and take the money into the Bank of OZK. By the time we got to someone that could cancel this for us, the detective went through and verified a couple of the checks and cashed them through Bank of OZK. How we know it was the detective is when you call to Authorize/verify you have to give a phone number and that phone number directly linked to the detective. 

I called XXXX and have a recording of speaking with the representative who stated that the funds are still on those checks, all that needed to be done is for the person or institution that has the original check to call and obtain the verification code. We had already obtained the verification codes, however I could have made a mistake in writing them down, as it was a lot of numbers and I had just gotten out of having had XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX However the funds were on the checks and all that needed to be done is just call XXXX all would have been cleared up. Bank of OZK failed to follow exact instructions on the checks and the detective proved to them funds were on the checks when he authorized them months later.

It is easy to make mistakes on these checks as the money code alone can be 9-16 digits long plus a 6 dig authorization/verification code plus the date and amount. All of these are numbers that have to be put on the check before its valid. Mistakes are common but easily fixed by calling the number in the red box. However for us to fix this they would have had to send us the NSF checks which they did not and they kept the legal copies this is how the detective was able to authorize a couple of them. When the bank of OZK called us about these checks we also told them what to do, however instead of doing that they demanded we bring them cash without sending us the NSF checks and reporting it to police.

They had plenty of checks before that went through without problems. Some that did have problems were immediately fixed if we found out, every time a teller called and questioned the checks we told them exactly what to do and it was fixed. not sure why they were not willing to do it on the ones in question. We specifically opened accounts with Bank of OZK because they told us they know how to deal with those checks. Also the detective was told by the bank of OZK that they feel like we wanted to defraud them because when we made deposits into the bank accounts we would turn around and spend the money right away. This was a business bank account and not a savings account ; funds are needed to operate a company. This is what we did. And it was not a personal account. 

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When we found out that some the checks had returned, we couldn't get a clear answer from the bank on which checks and what amount they were for. They would send us statements in the same email and on the same day with different amounts. We could never get an exact amount of what needs to be recovered. I have called them and emailed them I don't know how many times. Even today when you call them they cant give the correct amount, I called bank of OZK in front of their fraud protection officer and he witnessed the confusion but they still wouldn't drop the charges. The attorney advised that it would be better to enter in to a plea agreement instead of fighting it in court because it would be hard to explain to a jury the complexity of these checks. 

Please find attached the communication with the bank, the detective and OZK fraud department. The only reason I took the plea deal after telling them that I'm not guilty because I was told its the only way to stay out of jail for sure. But they have done me wrong majorly in this case. It didnt matter that I was innocent it seemed like there was no justice only a way to play the system.