Unexpected 'real' check in the mail? Don't cash it, it's a scam! More than 1,700 Western New Yorkers fell victim to fake-check scams last year at an average loss of $3,700 each

Samantha Maziarz Christmann

Jun. 22, 2008 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- When the United Parcel Service (NYSE:UPS) rang her doorbell Monday and delivered a check for $3,850, Kelly McGowan was ecstatic. "I thought, 'My prayers have been answered!' " McGowan said.

Recently laid off from her job as an administrative assistant at Voss Dental Laboratories, she wasn't sure where the check had come from. Was it her severance pay? Was it a signing bonus for one of the dozens of jobs she had applied for?

She wasn't sure. All she knew was that she had a genuine-looking check for a lot of money in her hands.

"I wanted nothing more than to run to the bank, cash it and worry about it later," McGowan said. "I am laid off. Money is tight. I thought it was a gift from God."

But when she called the bank that cut the check, the Chase Manhattan representative told her to shred it. It was a scam.

McGowan is just one of thousands of people solicited each day by phone, mail or e-mail with fraudulent check schemes, sometimes known as confidence fraud, or "Nigerian," "Dutch" or "419" schemes.

Some, like the one McGowan encountered, claim to offer work-at-home jobs. "Employees," told they will be processing checks for the company's "clients," are instructed to cash checks, wire 90 percent of the amount to a specific account and keep the remainder for themselves as salary.

Some respond to offers of items for sale in classified ads or on eBay. (NASDAQ:EBAY) Offering to buy the product, they will send a check exceeding the selling price, asking the seller to wire the balance to their "shipping company."

Others announce a large inheritance or lottery prize, asking the victim to wire money to cover "taxes and fees" before they deliver the much larger "jackpot."

But all scenarios end with the victim depositing a counterfeit check, wiring part of the money to the scam artist and being held financially and criminally responsible when the check inevitably bounces.

"There is any number of schemes -- you name it, and they're becoming more and more prevalent," said David Polino, president of Upstate New York's Better Business Bureau. "People want to believe it and that's why they work."

For a North Buffalo woman named Jamie, it was an official looking letter announcing she had won $38,000 as the winner of the Consumer's Reward Program Lottery. All she had to do was cash the check for $3,820 the company had "deducted from her winnings," wire it back to the company to cover a "luxury tax" and wait for them to send the rest.

After fantasizing about how to spend the money, she called to claim her winnings. Fortunately, when her series of questions made the scam artists suspicious enough to hang up the phone, she averted disaster.

For a 79-year-old Hamburg woman, it was the Jamaican Megabucks Lottery. A man calling himself the manager of the United Payout Office claimed to be circling her neighborhood with a truck full of money, just waiting for her to wire enough money to cover taxes and fees so he could drop off her prize. After all, the thousand dollars he asked for was mere peanuts compared with her $1 million winnings. Fortunately, she didn't believe him.

According to a February report from the Federal Trade Commission, more than 1,700 less-skeptical people fell victim to similar incidences of fraud in Buffalo Niagara last year, costing each an average of $3,700.

Those who smugly think the scams of old are easily spotted have not been met with the sophisticated operations of today, according to Charles Bruce, the executive director and founder of the National Check Fraud Center.

The checks unsuspecting consumers receive look real enough to fool not only them, but the bank teller who deposits them. Printed on real check stock, complete with a watermark, they sometimes display real checking account and routing numbers, often pilfered from other legitimate businesses who are themselves made victim.

"It can be very tempting to cash that check, even for someone who has no intention of committing fraud," Bruce said. "These people will say whatever they have to say to get as much money out of you as they can before they move on to the next sucker, and the next one, and the next one."

Indeed, the stereotype that only the elderly or uneducated are taken in by such scams is proving false. The scams are becoming more complicated than ever before and are highly organized. In fact, 87 percent of victims are under age 60.

"I'm [angry] because as street smart as I am, I almost fell for it," McGowan said. "I'm not starving by any means, but anybody who's really hurting for money -- I can see how they would definitely have put that check into their account."

According to Polino, widespread economic woes have caused a dramatic spike in check scam activity across Western New York. Things will only worsen as the economy heads toward recession he said, but he offers some steadfast advice.

"Every time there is a dip in the economy, we see a rise in [these crimes], especially phony job offers," he said. "Whenever you get an unexpected check in the mail from someone you don't know, throw it away. They're all scams."

schristmann@buffnews.com

Newstex ID: KRTB-0019-26154729