Message From the Cheif

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BEAT TO THE BENCH BY CHIEF ROBERT KISH for 8/7/07

This office has been advised of many scams out there, via mail and internet. One of the more prevalent is middle-aged and elderly people receiving checks in the mail for around $5,000.00 saying they won the lottery, some type of contest or something else that they never signed up for. We have had people deposit these checks in their account and when they wrote against the account, they learned the check they deposited was as phony as the contest they allegedly won. Their troubles then begin, as there is no recourse against the scam artist, as they are either out of state or country and the bank can come after the victim for restitution.

So if you get a check in the mail due to something you know nothing about, shred, tear it up or burn it. Do not deposit it, as it is worthless. One lady of our town brought in a scam check after she checked with the bank, as she felt it was trouble, and we confirmed and shredded it with her blessing. The federal authorities work some major scam cases but do not do anything with these smaller scams, as there are so many and they also have limited resources. The local police cannot go to Canada or England or Africa where many of these cases originate, so these rip-off artists fall between the cracks.

The scammers are so bold, they identify themselves as banks on the internet in e-mails and they even send these scams to the police station’s computers, trying for victims. They are nearly impossible to trace back and most have invalid or no return e-mail accounts.

Some scams involve "lawyers" from Africa and Europe looking for people to give them their checking account numbers, so they can deposit inheritance monies in your bank account, as it is unsafe in their country, and you will get a percentage. What you will get if you fall for such a scam, is a cleaned out bank account.

We have written about this in the past and one of our more eloquent investigators, Sgt Hartung, has informed the public about some of the many scams, but the scams have not stopped although the number of victims have decreased. People are becoming more suspicious, as I talked to one last week, which prompted this article. And just today, I spoke with another that felt people need to be aware of a scam she received in the mail. It was just one of the many, from Antigo, Wisconsin and indicated she had won just under $5,000 but she was too shrewd to fall for the ploy. Be like this lady, don’t be tricked, scammed, hoodwinked, bamboozled or ripped off. If it looks too good or suspicious, check with the bank or come see us, but don’t cash that check or give your banking information out. Call the police if you have any questions. Thank you.


 

                                

 

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