Wednesday, 09/06/06

Police warn of check-cashing scam

By John Bailey
The ****son Herald

Authorities say a check-cashing scheme out of Canada recently targeted at least three Middle Tennessee residents over the past few weeks. Two were from ****son County and one from Cheatham County.

Charlotte resident Karen Ramey was notified Thursday by Universal Direct Sweepstakes and International Claims in Vancouver that she was a $250,000 sweepstakes winner and sent her a check for $2,985.

UDS told Ramey in a letter that the enclosed check was to help cover the cost of the proper insurance fee in case she couldn’t afford it. The letter also directed Ramey to contact UDS before depositing the check.

“When I called the number on the letter, a woman told me that after depositing the check they wanted me to Western Union the money back to them, so they could pay the fee and then send the $250,000 to me,” Ramey said. “That’s when I knew something wasn’t right. That and the fact that the check looked too real.”

****son County Forensic Lab Investigator Buddy Tidwell said it wasn’t.

“It was actually a counterfeit check, part of a very elaborate scheme with several layers of anonymity built into it,” Tidwell said. “The phone numbers were shams, so when you called they would tell you they were a payment center and the address on the letter was an actual building that you could locate with a Google search.”

Tidwell said it was all set up to win a person’s trust and convince him or her to cash the fake check.

Ramey said several things tipped her off. She thought the signature and seal on the letter looked phony and the check had her father’s address, where she no longer lived.

“I almost considered just depositing the money when I first got the check, but something didn’t feel right and that’s why I started to do a little research and contacted the authorities,” Ramey said.

Through his investigation, Tidwell learned that a legitimate chain of hardware stores in Michigan had a company check stolen, and it’s assumed that the check was used as a template for the one that Ramey received.

“Our concern right now is that there may be more victims out there in ****son County that haven’t come forward yet,” Tidwell said. “There are a lot of people who don’t report this kind of theft because they are embarrassed. They just accept their loss and stay quiet.”

Ramey hopes that doesn’t happen with this scam.

“I came forward because I want other people to know about this and that there are people in the world who will take everything you own if you let them,” Ramey said. “Imagine what would happen if an elderly person on a fixed income fell for this. It would be devastating.”

Tidwell is currently investigating how the people behind UDS got their hands on addresses for ****son County residents to prevent this from occurring again.

Anyone who suspects they are being targeted by any kind of check scam or mail fraud should call the ****son County Computer Forensics Lab at 789-0129 or e-mail btidwell@****soncounty.net with any information.

http://www.****sonherald.com/apps/pb...14/1298/MTCN02

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