David Williams

I am sorry that you lost so much money.

Many scammers don't even use a book--they simply copy their material directly from free romantic sites like lovingyou.com and poemslovers.com

I deposited, not cashed, outright, but the banks didn't give them sufficient time to clear, so needless to say, I got stuck covering $ 12K in bad checks.

Unfortunately, the banks did everything right.
Federal law requires that banks release the cash from a check in a certain number of days if it hasn't been found to be fraudulent (how many days depends on the type of check.) This law is in place, ironically, to protect citizens, not to hurt them. Can you imagine if the bank held your paycheck for weeks, waiting it to go through full clearance before letting you have any cash? Or if you were a student with tuition due and a student loan check to cover it? The law ensures that people can pay their bills and properly plan and manage their money, because they can count on it being credited to their account in a certain timefram. However, because they are forced to pay before a check is fully cleared, it also gives the banks the right to recover their money if the check ultimately doesn't clear.

Unfortunately, scammers take advantage of this law, and the fact that the general public does not understand it, to do exactly what they did in your case.