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Scams reported
Published 12:00pm Wednesday, October 1, 2008Officials with the Fergus Falls Police Department say several area residents are victims of a check-cashing scam.
Here’s how it works. A victim receives a check in the mail and a request to cash it.
Sometimes the recipient is told he or she has won a prize, is needed to help a stranded grandchild, or is helping to complete a customer service survey.
The recipient is asked to cash the check, keep a portion of the money and wire the rest to a particular destination.
The result is that the recipient, as the person who cashed the check, is responsible for paying the money back once the check is found to be fraudulent.
In an incident reported Tuesday, a woman cashed a $1,500 check at a local bank and sent a money gram to Canada; she later told police she believed it to be a scam.
