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Guy tries to encash a $386 billion check in the bank. Then, he told them about his lifelong dream

The bank refused to provide Waters with the funds, and when he was accused of fraud, he blamed everything on the seller of the check.
PUBLISHED OCT 19, 2024
People standing in a bank queue | Cover Image: (Photos by Getty Images| Chuck Savage)
People standing in a bank queue | Cover Image: (Photos by Getty Images| Chuck Savage)

While people are known to win millions in a lottery and amass billions of dollars in net worth, someone walking around with hundreds of billions in cash is bizarre. But a man in Florida didn't find it weird at all, as he tried to cash in a check for hundreds of billions of dollars. Back in 2015, the ambitious entrepreneur named Jeff Water strolled into the Bank of America branch in Jacksonville to raise funds to build his underwater restaurant. He was only looking for about $368 billion and the funny part is that all he had was a single check made to cash.  

Stacks of US one hundred dollar bills | Getty Images | stock photo
Stacks of US one hundred dollar bills | Getty Images | stock photo

The Craziest Check Ever

The staff at the bank was naturally surprised after they came across the check and called the police on Waters, who then revealed the weird story behind his misadventure, according to a report by E! Online. Waters told the police that he bought a blank U.S. Bank of Idaho check from the 1990s from a homeless person for just $100. The seller named Tito told him that he could make the check out for any amount and he would get paid. Believing the outrageous claim, Waters went on to write down the bizarre number on the check, under the impression that he was going to be rich.



 

Shedding light on another ambitious plan of his to start an underwater restaurant, Waters said, "It's always been my dream to own the best Italian restaurant on the earth." He added that his plan was to build an 80 million square feet place that could accommodate a million eaters at a time. "Plus it was gonna be underwater so people could look at sharks while they ate," he said. 

Representative image of Rio De Janeiro's New
Representative image of Rio De Janeiro's New "AquaRio" Aquarium | Getty Images | Photo by Mario Tama

The bank refused to provide Waters with the funds, and when he was accused of fraud, he blamed everything on the seller of the check, Tito, while calling himself "as innocent as a schoolgirl." The story got even more bizarre as the police found "Chinese throwing stars" and bath salts on him when they arrested him on charges of forgery.

Earlier this year, another man from Florida was caught using a check-writing software to create fake checks. According to a report by CBS Austin, the man, Tyler Jacobs deposited the checks at various financial institutions with fake signatures, and then quickly withdrew the money before destroying evidence using a shredder.

Authorities found out that Jacobs had defrauded as many as 15 financial institutions and more than 100 people had fallen victim to his scheme. They also confirmed that he wasn't operating by himself, as others involved in the scam provided them information for accounts in their names and withdrew the money that he deposited through the fake checks. From getting checks from homeless people to using software to churn out checks in bulk, fraudsters have come a long way in less than a decade.

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