Rural Wisconsin Residents Should Take Precautions Against Fake Check Scam

By Glen Loyd
Sunday, December 28, 2008 8:50 PM CST

Back in the 1970s and 1980s, few foreign criminals had access to American victims. Then came cheap long distance telephone rates and virtually free e-mail, which allowed criminals around the world access to U.S. victims.

Now even people in small farming communities such as Richland Center, New Holstein, Altoona, Athens and Mayville are becoming victims.

The scammers have also targeted people in Cumberland, Denmark, Luxemburg, Poynette, Lyndon Station, Darlington, Tomah, Baldwin, Oconto Falls, Neillsville, Almond and Argyle.

These scam artists are responsible for two categories of complaints on Wisconsin’s Top10 list: Investments and Sweepstakes.

In 2001, the L.A. Times reported, “Officials say Canada has become a paradise for this kind of fraud because the penalties there, usually a fine or short prison term, are generally much lighter than in the United States, where offenders can be sentenced to five years in prison for each defrauded victim.”

In addition to sweepstakes and investments, these con artists figured out ways to scam us when newspapers started putting want ads and employment ads online for the whole world to see. Are you selling something online? Looking for a job? Renting out an apartment? Look out! You could become a rip-off victim.

The rip-off artists send victims real looking checks, then ask them to deposit the money, and wire a portion somewhere else.

In the past few years, the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) has received 500 complaints about fake checks. Twelve percent of these people had money stolen from them. And these are just the people who contacted the Department. It’s estimated that for every compliant received, there are many more unreported.

In 2006, DATCP received 52 complaints about fake checks. One person and a bank lost $190,000. Eight other people were victimized for a total amount of $160,000. In 2007, almost 300 complaints came in, with approximately 48 victims losing a total amount of $160,304.

Janet Jenkins, administrator of DATCP’s Division of Trade and Consumer Protection, offers the following tips to avoid becoming a victim:

- First, if it seems too good to be true, it probably is, so check it out very carefully. Second, don’t ever accept a check from someone who asks you to send part of it back. That’s almost always a sure sign it’s a scam.

- Be careful and selective about giving out your e-mail address.

- If you like to enter contests and apply for free things online, know that your e-mail may be harvested and put up for sale.

- To keep your important e-mail account from contamination, you might use a secondary free online e-mail service for contests and questionable websites.

- When in doubt, call the toll-free hotline of the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection: 800-422-7128.

Older adults targeted

Wisconsin’s elderly population is also being targeted by two scams: The Grandma/Grandpa scam and the Fake Publishers Clearing House scam.

In the fake sweepstakes, Wisconsin residents receive what looks like a prize certificate from Publishers Clearing House. The certificate tells recipients they are the “third place winner” which is worth $1 million. The certificate also tells recipients they must contact a representative whose name and phone number are given, along with a “security code.” The recipient is also told that the Internal Revenue agent handling the file is “Mr. Harvey” and given a telephone number to contact Mr. Harvey.

Along with the certificate comes a check, often for several thousands of dollars, to cover outstanding fees not paid by Publishers Clearing House. The recipient is to deposit the check and wire part of the check’s proceeds to a person, often someone in Canada.

At least one Wisconsin resident in Reedsburg followed the instructions and was out $2,400 when the check, a fake, bounced. The real Publishers Clearinghouse said it was not involved.

“Con artists like to prey on vulnerable consumers,” says Jenkins of the Division of Trade and Consumer Protection.

“Given the current economic situation, there are many vulnerable consumers who can be victimized by those promising money prizes, particularly when it appears that the prize is from a real business. To make matters even worse, these consumers not only don’t get any money, they actually have to pay money.”

Grandparents scammed

Another way grandparents are getting scammed is when a caller says, “This is your grandson. I’ve had an accident with a rental car in Canada. Please wire money. I’ll pay you back. Don’t tell mom or dad.”

One Wisconsin grandparent wired money two times and is out $19,000! It’s a scam by con artists claiming to be grandchildren. How can this happen? Well, maybe grandpa and grandma have not seen their grandchildren for a while or are hearing impaired.

The victims are instructed to wire money to the perpetrators in Canada. Workers at a department store in Janesville who wire money told the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection they alert seniors who ask to send money to Canada and recently had called the police and saved a grandparent thousands of dollars. But not all stores follow this practice, and not all clerks are aware of these scams. A department store regional manager in Wisconsin says that local service desk staff make the decision to alert consumers if they are aware of a scam.

One company that wires money has a specific policy in place where clerks are trained to be wary of fraud. For example, if elderly consumers want to wire a large amount of money to Canada, clerks ask if they know the receiver. If it appears that a consumer is being scammed, the clerk will refuse to send the money.

Consumer Protection hotline staff at the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection can protect you. Call 800-422-7128 when asked to wire money to Canada or overseas for these or other questionable reasons:

- You’ve won a sweepstakes

- A family member is allegedly in trouble

- You have been hired as a secret shopper by strangers

- You have been hired for other jobs

- You are selling something.

- You are a landlord renting out apartments

For more information, contact Consumer Protection staff by e-mail at mailto:datcphotline@wisconsin.gov or by phone at 800-422-7128.

This just in

In addition to these modern scams involving fake checks and wiring money, rip-off artists using a century-old scam are also zeroing in on Wisconsin farm families. Door-to-door lightning rod repair men are canvassing the state right now in pickup trucks.

Lightning rod scams date back at least to 1891 when sellers would scare the life out of farmers with lightning damage stories and then offer a special inducement to buy the protecting rods.

For example, they would give the farmer a “special deal” of only $5 and he was not to reveal this to neighbors because they would be jealous of him.

But somehow the farmer was obliging himself to a payment of $195. When the farmer balked, he was threatened with a lawsuit.

In addition to telling farmers how the rods would protect buildings, sales people - honest and dishonest - also sold decorative rods with beautiful shapes and glass balls. Something to dress up the house like lawn ornaments. Some of these decorative rods seemed to have a magic quality about them.

Now, many years after the original salesmen came through, lightning rod repair scammers are showing up, saying the rods need to be repaired because they are fire hazards.

Law enforcement agencies in Dodge County and the La Crosse area are warning farmers and homeowners with lightning rods to be wary of two men in a pickup truck.

One consumer agreed to lightning rod repair at the rate of $17 per foot. The men walked around on the roof for about an hour and tried to charge the owner $2,600. The homeowner refused to pay but eventually forked over $500 before the men left. Later, various forms of copper were allegedly found missing from the roof.

The victim reported one of the men appeared to be in his 20s; the other in his 40s. These men said they were from Wisconsin and drove either a white or gray pickup truck.

The Dodge County Sheriff’s Department received a complaint from a homeowner who was approached by a pair asking to repair the lightning rod on her roof. The complainant said she felt the pair had already looked at the system without her permission. They were driving a dark blue pickup truck with a ladder.

When the homeowner told them to leave, they did so in a hurry. The Sheriff says there have been a number of burglaries in the county.

Glen Loyd has been an investigative reporter for 40 years. Every week as public information officer, he appears on TV stations in Milwaukee, Green Bay and Madison. Prior to his government service, Loyd was an On Your Side reporter for KDFW-TV, the CBS affiliate in Dallas, Texas, and WLUK-TV and WFRV-TV in Green Bay. He has written for the Chicago Daily News and was senior editor of Today’s Health magazine, published by the American Medical Association. In 2005 Loyd was inducted into the Wisconsin Broadcasters Hall of Fame.

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