Fruitport Township Police Department recently received a report of a common scam in which the reporting party received an unsolicited check in the mail with instructions to cash the check, keep part of the money, and wire the remaining money to another party. This is a very common scam, and the checks are fraudulent.
Fruitport Township Police Department, along with most other police departments across the country, receives multiple tips regarding scams of this nature on a regular basis.
The Federal Trade Commission offers this advice: Don’t agree to deposit a check from someone you don’t know and then wire money back, no matter how convincing the story. By law, banks must make funds from deposited checks available within days, but uncovering a fake check can take weeks. You are responsible for the checks you deposit: When a check turns out to be a fake, it’s you who is responsible for paying back the bank.
The best defense against these types of scams is awareness.
Links to information about common scams follow:
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/general/gen22.shtm
http://onguardonline.gov/articles/0002-common-online-scams
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/menus/consumer/data/idt.shtm
This information has also been posted on the Fruitport Township Police Department Facebook page.
