ripped off or what?

my wife applied for a mystery shopper job online ,we received letter in the mail a few weeks later containing a check for $2875.00 with instructions on what was to be done (she was supposed to be doing an evaluation of a company as far as her shopping experience and do a money transfer with the balance of the money minus $200.00 for doing this). we were told to deposit the check and contact the company when the check cleared. for further instructions and the necessary paperwork she would have to fill out after completing the task. we deposited the check and waited(with our bank there is a nine day hold on the check as we had just moved and opened a new account at a new bank) well needless to say to check was refused and we were assessed charges for the returned check. we contacted the company and explained the situation and were told the fraud dept. would contact us as they were having trouble with that account the check was drawn off of. never heard from anyone. called again a week later. were told that the situation was resolved and the money would be released. now several weeks later still nothing.do we have any recourse to recover the charges we incurred by our bank for the check or do i need to report this to someone and pursue this legally in the hopes that no one else will have to go thru what we have. any help would be greatly appreciated.

[olive]

If you knew it might be fraudulent you can be charged with an offense yourself and a few people are charged in this situation. By law the depositor normally is responsible--but you could try threatening to sue them in small claims or other court--you can in some cases argue that they made a separate agreement with you when they said the funds were cleared and the check was okay...you relied on this agreement made between you and the bank employee.
See also -- WORLDLawDirect - Counterfeit cashier's check scams