NEW YORK CITY (WABC) — If you sent a check to someone and it never arrives at its destination, the next step is to call the bank to place a stop payment on it before it gets cashed fraudulently. That’s exactly what Joseph and Margaret Cantara did when New York City didn’t receive their check for property taxes. Yet, it was cashed anyway and for quadruple the amount.
“It made no sense to me. Anyone can see it was completely altered,” said Cantara, referring to a copy of his check.
The Cantaras have seen a lot since meeting at Macy’s while in high school, 57 years ago. But what they saw on their check was a first.
“All of our printed information was crossed out. Our address was rewritten, another phone number, rewritten,” said Joseph.
“They retyped it with large type,” said Margaret. “And rewrote it in pen,” added Joseph.
The check was originally made out to New York City for quarterly property taxes on their Flushing, Queens home. The amount was changed from $2570.24 to nearly four times the amount.
“$9995.00,” Joseph said.
But the check was made out to a person named Michelle. The memo portion of the check read, “For seven months of physical therapy.”
Here’s the kicker: The check was pieced together like Frankenstein. Despite the stop payment order, it was somehow brought back to life. Their address was inked out and a new one scribbled in next to theirs. The “Pay To” and “Amount” lines had been erased with new amounts written in and even the signature was new.
The Cantaras say they placed that stop payment on the check back in November. They received confirmation from the bank, but somehow the money was withdrawn from their account on Christmas Eve. They’ve been trying to get their money back ever since.
“I called about a dozen times, “Joseph said. “I keep getting passed around. No one can help and they all say the same thing, ‘We understand.’ And I said, ‘No you don’t. Ww have bills to pay. I need this money in my account.'”
Margaret handles the taxes for their business. Joe is a fine antiques dealer who buys and sells rare glass, such as Tiffany lamps.
The investigation into the fraudulent check wound up freezing their account.
“We have my pension check and social security and couldn’t take that money out. We couldn’t access our money for 3 weeks,” said Joseph.
After a 10-day investigation dragged on for 3 months, the art aficionados reached out to 7 On Your Side.
“I was frustrated,” said Joseph. “We watch Channel 7 News four times a day. I decided, I’ll reach out to you!”
7 On Your Side paid a visit to the branch and presented all the evidence the Cantaras shared with our team.
“You went to the bank. The very next morning, the money was back in the account,” Joseph said.
“You solved it in a day. In a day. It was amazing,” Joseph said.
“It’s incredible,” added Margaret.
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