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Along with e-mails supposedly from wealthy but financially inept Nigerian royalty, a leading form of financial scam targeting New Mexican consumers involves mailed counterfeit checks that arrive with instructions to cash the checks and wire proceeds to an out-of-state corporation or individual.
“It is vital that no one cash one of these counterfeit checks because once the check is found to be counterfeit, the amount of the check will be owed to the financial institution that cashed it,” state Attorney General’s office spokeswoman Lynn Southard said. “Consumers can protect themselves if they receive a counterfeit check by simply not cashing the check. On average, each year New Mexicans lose more than $3,000 to scams.”
The AG’s Consumer Protection Division is asking consumers to send in counterfeit checks and instructions used in such scams, to be added to its Counterfeit Check Database.
The database has logged 134 counterfeit checks since 2007, when 18 checks were logged. By 2009, 77 scam-associated checks were added to the database.
The database contains only 12 checks so far this year, some of which are currently in circulation in the state, according to Southard. The counterfeit checks are supposedly from entities as varied as REI, United Health Insurance, Duke Energy and the New York Yankees’ supposed account at SUNTRUST Bank in Tampa Bay, Florida.
Surprise winnings from foreign lotteries are a common theme, according to AG records. (Playing foreign lotteries through the mail or over the phone is a violation of federal law, according to the AG website.) No legitimate lottery in any state or country requires winners to pay fees to collect their winnings.
Other counterfeit check scams include Internet or classified ad overpayment scams and “secret shopper” scams, according to the AG website.
Overpayment scams involve a potential buyer responding to an ad offers to send a check for more than the agreed price, asking that the difference be wired to somebody else after you deposit the check.
Secret shopper scams invite victims to help evaluate a money transfer service by cashing a provided check and sending money elsewhere through a money transfer service.
Those tempted to cash a check from an unknown source should search the AG’s Counterfeit Checks Database, Southard said. Consumers should assume any letters involving a request to wire money or send a money order to an unknown person are scams.
“You might find a copy of the check here,” Southard said. “But even if you don’t, please don’t be fooled into thinking you are going to get something for nothing.”
Consumers can mail suspicious checks to:
Office of New Mexico Attorney General Gary K. King
Consumer Protection Division
408 Galisteo St.
Santa Fe, NM 87501
