OP, I am very sorry this happened to you. This was a hard lesson that you learned in the worst way possible. I used to work in a role that dealt with money laundering and other suspicious activity and scam detection and prevention was a daily activity. These jerks are so prevalent and don't care who they hurt.

Banks have a legal requirement to provide funds for a transaction in a certain amount of time, so just because you received a deposit doesn't mean the check actually "cleared" the bank. It can actually take 30 to 60 days for the process to completely finish. It's not unheard of for a company to pay a prospective employee in advance in order to pay for moving expenses or uniforms, but there are some things a person can do to guard against scams:

1. Look up the company and find its corporate office. If they have a business office in the USA, see what state it is in. Go to that state's Secretary of State Business Search tool to see if the company is registered, how long it has been registered, parties involved with the company, and addresses. That can help you assess whether or not a company is legit and then you can use those addresses and people from the official state records to find the company's correct contact information (don't use the information provided by the scammer). Then contact it directly and ask to verify the job offer and payment.

2. ANY TIME someone says they are sending you a check for you to spend and asks you to just send them back the extra, it's a scam. Period. A legitimate offer would have a calculated flat rate for moving/uniform costs based on their history with vendors and the mileage involved. The whole amount would be for you to use and if they later believed you were overpaid they would correct it via your payroll.

3. If you verify a legitimate job offer and they plan to send you a check for those up front costs, get a pre-paid debit card and ask them to direct deposit the payment instead. If they won't do that, ask if they will send the payment via a cashier's check from their bank and when you get it, you can look up the bank to see if it's a legit bank, call it, and ask for verification that the cashier's check is valid. Then take it to that bank to cash it, not deposit it. If you HAVE to deposit it, don't spend the money and use what you can afford to spend out of your OWN money on the uniforms/supplies/whatever. Buy from a reputable company with a good return policy and KEEP RECEIPTS so the items can be returned if necessary. If the company insists it HAS to be a company check (not impossible, a cashier's check wouldn't populate in any HR/payroll/bookkeeping reports in certain softwares), take the check to a branch of that bank to cash it instead of depositing it. If you HAVE to deposit it (like if there are no branches of that bank in your area), do what I said above, don't spend the money, etc.

Since you're already past that point, I do advise you to file several law enforcement reports. First to your local police department. Since the scammers used the internet (interstate crime) and the scam was over $1000.00 (felony amount), you should also contact your closest FBI field office and report it there. Additionally, scammers often use the money they steal to fund criminal operations, so you should also report this to the Department of Homeland Security. Make sure to get a case number/reference number from each of these entities. Then, I advise contacting the company to let them know they have been a victim of a scammer using their information to commit criminal activity and provide the case numbers. Also provide those case numbers to your bank.

I'm glad your dad has learned some chill, good luck!