Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
Gerald Kennedy is the winner of $50,000 – at least that’s what a letter dated Jan. 22 told him.
The letter even came with a $2,800 check to prove it.
“I went out to the mailbox,” Kennedy said, handling the check. “This was in the mail.”
The envelope had no return address on it, and it had a Canadian stamp.
“I open it up, and it has this check in there,” he said. “It looks official.”
The sponsors of the sweepstakes were Lotto, Reader’s Digest, Publisher’s Clearinghouse and Sweepstakes, according to the notification, none of which Kennedy has ever entered, he said, although his wife did enter a couple of sweepstakes contests years ago.
He repeated the old adage, often repeated by local police: “Something that seems too good to be true usually is.”
That thought made him think twice before doing anything with the check, he said.
Ron Rettke, owner of Sweet Home Lanes and Stone Willy’s, where Kennedy works, has told him about scams like this. He took the letter and check to Rettke.
Rettke used the Internet to track down the credit union in Oklahoma that appeared on the check, FSFCU Community Credit Union; and Kennedy was able to call that credit union and ask about the check. He learned that the check was no good and that a number of others like it had been reported.
Kennedy faxed a copy of the check and letter to the credit union.
Rettke also found that the phone number for the company that sent the check to Kennedy was from central Canada. The address on the notification itself listed an address in Nassau, the Bahamas.
Kennedy called a phone number included in the prize notification, he said. “I called him from the house and told him I was the recipient of a check. I asked, ‘Is the check good?'”
The man told him, “Oh yes, go cash it,” Kennedy said. He told him it was “200 percent good.”
The man, who said his name was John Kayon at (905) 920-2741, told Kennedy to call back when he had cashed the check to receive further instructions.
This is the second bogus check Kennedy has received, he said. “They’re preying on people, making bad checks and using people out here to cash the checks for them.”
“They want him to deposit that check,” Sweet Home Detective Cyndi Pichardo said. Usually, they would continue to contact him to find out if he has deposited the check. When he does, he will normally be advised to withdraw a certain amount and send it back to “finalize the claim.”
“What I’ve seen happen in the past is the immediate victim will deposit the check,” Pichardo said. “It will go through … before being routed back to this bank on the check.”
In this case, the thief might ask for $2,500 to be sent back and then disappear, leaving Kennedy with $300 and a bank that would likely come after him to recover the cost.
The scammer is looking for people “hoping that it is good enough to be true and will take a chance and cash these checks,” Pichardo said. As the law sees it, a person cashing one of these checks knows “you do not get something for nothing. If it looks too good to be true, it is too good to be true.”
Ultimately, when a victim cashes these checks, “the bank will not eat the charges,” she said. The bank will charge it back to the victim.
This is just one way thieves can steal money, and this time of year tax refunds are in danger. Pichardo wanted to warn people to be careful during tax season.
“(During) tax time we usually see an increase in forgeries related to the tax return checks,” Pichardo said. “We see a spike in mail theft as well.”
Thieves know refunds start arriving in late January and continue through early April, she said. She recommends people pay close attention to their mail and check it as soon as it is delivered.
“If you are expecting a bill you have not received,” she said. “Call the company and ask about it. It’s a clue.”
Persons with information about thefts or scams or persons looking for further information should call the Police Department at 367-5181.