Aug 19, 2008 5:45 pm US/Pacific
Call Kurtis: Check Scam Warning
LODI (CBS13) ―
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Call Kurtis, CBS 13, KOVR, Kurtis Ming
They look legitimate to the untrained eye, and all too often, to the eyes of bank tellers.
"I said how would you recognize this to be a bad check? They didn't know, they didn't know for sure," says Jesse Moore, holding up a very official-looking cashier's check that he'd taken to his bank for verification.
Moore, who lives in Lodi, wants to get a warning out for others – he almost got scammed, and doesn't want you to be. Moore got an e-mail out of the blue last month offering him the opportunity to earn easy money.
"That would have come in handy because it would have been the easiest ten percent I'd made," said Moore.
All he had to do was cash a $3,600 dollar check for the sender who claimed to be in Dublin, Ireland.
"It's made out to me," said Jesse, holding up the check.
Jesse could take his 10 percent off the top. "Out of this check I would get $360," he said.
He'd wire the rest, via Western Union, to a "client" stateside. A few e-mails later, and an envelope arrived at his door -- it was the cashier's check. But something told him to verify that piece of paper, so he called SunTrust bank, who's logo was on the check, and they confirmed.
"That's not a legit number," said Jesse, pointing to the check number in the upper right-hand corner. The check was counterfeit.
"It's a heartbreak," said Jesse.
Check fraud and e-mail schemes like this one drain the bank accounts of thousands of unsuspecting consumers every year. Some lose thousands, even hundreds of thousands of dollars, according to the FBI's Kevin Baker.
"We've had people who've wired over a million dollars trying to invest in an illegitimate investment overseas and it all started with the original solicitation via email," said Agent Baker.
Agent Baker also says most scams originate overseas in developed and third world countries. But the vast majority of victims -- 80% -- are here in the United States.
"And there's just so many of these, and each of them may be small in their own specific transaction, so they wouldn't really be pursued for federal prosecution," said Agent Baker.
The FBI simply doesn't have the resources. Victims can be taken multiple times before they realize it, sending their bank accounts into the hole by tens-of-thousands of dollars. And that downward spiral could be just the beginning -- there's ID theft, and possible jail time because of that little green check.
"The banks detect its counterfeit, call the police; the person is arrested" says Agent Baker.
And it'd happen right there in the bank lobby, making for a traumatic and embarrassing ordeal. Had Moore not gone with his instincts, deposited the check, and lost thousands out of his account, he might not have recovered.
"Oh it would have destroyed me," said Moore.
The FBI says there are three common denominators with mass-marketing schemes: they're always unsolicited; they ask you to wire money and they require advance fees. They also have three ways to save yourself from financial loss: delete those emails (don't even read them), hang-up on apparent telemarketers and throw away the junk faxes (don't read those either.)
For more information and tips,
click here.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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