Scam artists use technology to their advantage
»www.kccommunitynews.com/articles···593.txt

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Every day people fall victim to various types of scams that usually go unreported and can result in losses of thousands of dollars.

A Paola woman was a target of a counterfeit check scam about six months ago.

She had completed surveys for various companies online for a couple months and received nearly $300 in cash rewards, when she received a letter by a Canada-based naming her a $45,000 sweepstakes winner for completing a certain number of surveys. There were no conditions attached to the sweepstakes win. The letter only requested she contact the company when she received the first installment of money, $3,100, and provide her bank account and routing number.

“I thought this money is really going to come in handy,” said the married mother of four children.

Instead of depositing the check into her account though, she decided to cash the $3,100 check at Moon’s Hometown Market in Osawatomie. She spent $1,500 of the cash on bills and school clothes for her children.

She researched the bank online and discovered that it was in California and insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

“It took a good 12 days for (the check) to come back and say it was insufficient funds,” she said. “Come to find out, the company was not affiliated with the bank.”

She said she then had to make arrangements with owner Mike Moon to pay him back the $1,600 she had spent using some of her 401(k).

“It put us in a bind,” she said. “I wanted it to be true.”

This scam victim said she reported the crime to Osawatomie Assistant Police Chief Bob Butters, but no charges were filed. She did consider reporting the scam to the Kansas Attorney General, but decided against it because she didn’t think the investigation would go anywhere.

Moon, who talked to the woman about her situation and worked out a payment plan with her, said she should have known better and that the saying “if it’s too good to be true, it probably is,” applies to this incident. Moon said he has seen an increasing number of scams similar to this one in Miami County and wants to make people aware of this rise in criminal activity.

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