Counterfeit check scam targets Springfield businessman

by Eric Olson

SBJ Reporter

eolson@sbj.net

Springfield's Jenkins family, owners of Jenkins Diesel, received a puzzling piece of mail June 16. A United Parcel Service Express Pak labeled "Extremely urgent" contained a $4,800 cashier's check payable to "Edward Jenkins," the deceased co-founder of Jenkins Diesel, which is an international seller of diesel engines.

No letter, no explanation.

Having suspicions, Joe Jenkins whose middle name is Edward after his father turned the check over to Empire Bank for investigation. There it joined a stack of about two dozen checks on the desk of Cindy Harding, the bank's fraud prevention specialist. Harding labeled Jenkins' check counterfeit, just like the rest.

"I have enough to paper a room," Harding said of the growing number of counterfeit checks in circulation.

Most are part of a scam, she said, including Jenkins' check.

The check sent to the Jenkins family is part of a string of counterfeit cashier's checks in circulation for about three months, according to a Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation special alert released April 12. The check payable to Edward Jenkins matches the FDIC's description of the counterfeit variety: It claims to originate from a legitimate bank in this case Highlands Independent Bank of Sebring, Fla. displays an actual routing number and states it is payable through Firstar Bank of Minnesota.

The "Firstar" reference is the giveaway. An authentic cashier's check would be printed "payable through U.S. Bank, St. Paul, Mn.," on the lower left-hand corner.

About 10 other banks have since reported counterfeit cashier's checks in circulation, according to the FDIC. (FDIC tips on fradulent cashier's checks appear on page 11.)

Jenkins said he has no idea why he or his family would be targets of this scam, which is typically related to Internet transactions. He hadn't sold anything on the Internet and wasn't expecting payment from the check's remitter. "There are two people on there, neither one of them I know," Jenkins said.

Perhaps his family's information was obtained through the diesel business, he said.

"I don't know. I would assume (it results from) me being involved in business locally and some international," Jenkins said. "Who knows where they picked up my name."

Counterfeit check scams

Typical counterfeit check scams revolve around a purchase of goods, often online, Harding said. The buyer sends a counterfeit check in an amount greater than the agreed-upon price, sometimes upwards of $6,000 more, and asks the seller to wire back the difference.

This scam is different.

"Joe's was different in that he had no idea why he would receive it," Harding said. "Whereas all the other people that have received them had something for sale that they were advertising on the Internet, he just got it."

Said Jenkins, "It's a new twist on an old scam."

The only conclusion Jenkins can draw is that his wife had some items from her Country Road Collections antique shop for sale online at www.go-antiques.com.

It's possible the scam artist got some information from that, Jenkins said.

Both Jenkins and Harding are puzzled about how this scam is supposed to work.

"I still can't figure out what the hook is," Jenkins said.

Nigerian scam

Highlands Independent Bank officials say they have been aware of these counterfeit checks in circulation for about three months.

About 25 of the bank's checks, the counterfeit variety, have been found all over the United States, said Hazel Steedley, a bank senior vice president.

"This scam started out of Nigeria," Steedley said via telephone from her Florida office. "It's just so widespread that even the Secret Service can't seem to get a handle on it. We can't catch them."

Nigerian scam artists have for years targeted American consumers and businesspeople with letters, faxes and e-mails asking for help moving or holding large sums of money in exchange for a cut of the cash. Jenkins said he has a file at least 40-letters deep of fraudulent financial proposals dating back to 1998.

"Anybody that deals overseas gets these kinds of letters and faxes all the time," he said. "This is the first scam I've received where somebody sends me what appears to be a cashier's check for money that I am not owed."

The FDIC has been sending out counterfeit cashier's check alerts since the early 1990s, according to FDIC spokesperson Frank Gresock.

But technological advancements are perhaps improving scam artists' techniques, Gresock said.

"There are probably more of them now because of the sophistication of photocopying equipment," he said. "The technology exists now with electronics, computers and printers that allow counterfeiting to be more widespread. It's being seen more often."

Steedley said con artists have changed the buyer-beware philosophy to seller-beware.

"A lot of people sell things over the Internet. They are encouraged to do that and they are all subject to this scam," she said.

Jenkins said he has not filed a police report. The FDIC recommends contacting local authorities if a check is thought to be counterfeit.