A few weeks ago, a Perham woman walked into the Heart of the Lakes Credit Union wanting to cash ten Postal Money Orders for $850 each. Instead of leaving with $8,500 dollars in her account, she ended up being questioned at the police station, the victim of an increasingly widespread internet scam.
The 23-year-old woman received an e-mail from an overseas company informing her that she could be the company's treasurer. The company, based out of Ghana, Africa, wanted her to deposit the postal money orders into her account, keep 15 percent of the money for herself, and then Western Union the rest to an address in Florida.
Initially, the woman received five of the postal money orders in the mail, but she waited awhile, trying to decide what to do with them. Upon receiving five more in the mail, she went to the credit union to deposit them.
Luckily, employees at the bank were suspicious of the large amounts of the money orders and decided to call and check on the validity of the orders before they were processed.
"It turned out to be a blessing that they figured out they were counterfeit," said Perham's Police Chief Brian Nelson.
ADVERTISEMENT
Financial responsibility
of fraud
Nelson shared how these scams often end up financially devastating the people who attempt to cash the counterfeit orders. The people behind these scams are professionals, he said. They make people believe that the money orders are real.
Later, when the money orders are found to be counterfeit, they are traced back to the person who deposited them. It is then that individual's legal responsibility to pay the money back, even if it was sent to another party. The people depositing the counterfeit postal money orders may or may not be charged criminally, but they will be held financially responsible.
"It is hard for people to imagine there are people out there that cold who will run these scams, take away someone's life savings and still go to bed at night," said Nelson.
Yet, law enforcement officials estimate that the value of counterfeit postal money orders that have been intercepted runs into the millions of dollars.
If a postal money order is official, there will be visible Ben Franklin watermarks repeated on the left side of the money order when held up to the light. There will also be a dark security thread running (top to bottom) to the right of the Franklin watermark, with the tiny letters "USPS" facing backward and forward.
A good catch
ADVERTISEMENT
Even though this is the first time someone has attempted to cash counterfeit postal money orders in Perham, the employees at the Heart of the Lakes Credit Union managed to do the right thing in order to prevent what could have been a devastating financial loss for the Perham woman who was a victim of this scam. The employees immediately dialed a number to check on the validity of the money orders and were notified that they were counterfeit.
Jean Siirila, Branch Manager at Heart of the Lakes Credit Union said that scammers often tell the people they are scamming to cash either the checks or the money orders right away. This way, people get caught up in the excitement of a chance to earn some money and do not think about what they are doing long enough to entertain skeptical thoughts.
Both Siirila and Nelson shared how the old adage still stands true: If it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is.
If you have questions about accepting Postal Money Orders, you may call your local Post Office or the fraud hotline at 1-800-372-8347 (Monday- Friday) or visit www.usps.com/postalinspectors for additional information.
