Why you would have stake claim in a bogus check in this day and age is beyond me. When you are looking for something for doing nothing, you deserve what you get.
When You do your homework when deciding whether a company slash check is phony, you then reaps the rewards. NO real company sends out money when you have not done the work. You wouldn't be out $12 if you had thought about destroying the check before depositing into you bank.
Scams happens often, we must be diligent in looking out for such. Three pages of information about them, going back 2 plus more years. Apparently they haven't gotten better.
BTW, welcome to the forum. Hope your experiences and shops get better from here on out.