December 26, 2007
By RAELYNN RICARTE
News staff writer

A Hood River man ended up being scammed out of more than $2,500 after answering a newspaper ad for a home-based job.

Another local resident got caught up in an Internet “romance” with a “Nigerian” that resulted in her being investigated by a bank for fraud.

Police Detective Anthony Frasier said these are just two of the incidents in which local residents — and one business — have been victimized in recent weeks.

“We have several community members who are out money because they got caught in some scheme,” said Frasier.

In the case involving a man looking for employment Frasier said all of the documentation appeared to be authentic. The victim called a number listed in a local publication and was told that he fit the requirements for a Customer Service Evaluator. He received a packet of information in a U.S. Postal Service envelope that had professional letterhead and logos from major corporate sponsors across the bottom of the cover page.

The man was given an “assignment” to cash an enclosed check for $2,520 and take out $300 as training pay. He was then requested the remainder in a Money Gram to a woman in Canada.

Frasier said the subject did as requested — but ended up with the check bouncing and the bank demanding that he repay the funds.

“If it looks like it’s too good to be true, it’s too good to be true,” he said.

Frasier “googled” the address provided by the company and it came up as belonging to a statue in a Louisiana park.

The police detective said a similar loss was suffered by a woman who thought she was involved in a long-distance relationship. The woman met a “Nigerian” in an Internet chat room who told her that he had a business in Portland. He claimed to be overseas taking care of his sick mother during one of their many written dialogues.

After several months of communication, he asked the woman to help him make a business transaction. She agreed to cash a $2,700 check that he sent her and then wire all but $600, which he told her to keep, to another location. The check arrived in a United Postal Service envelope and appeared to clear the bank. It wasn’t until the second check for $2,700 came that the woman learned that both bank notes had bounced. At that point, the financial institution began to investigate the woman for running a scam.

“She’s going to have to pay all the money back and she can’t get an account anywhere now,” said Frasier.

He said a local business even got victimized by a telephone scam artist. An employee at the retail outlet was informed that a wire transfer of $3,000 had not gone through. She was asked to resend the cash by an individual claiming to be working on the receiving end of the Money Gram. The woman dutifully fulfilled the request for more cash before learning that the request had been made fraudulently.

Frasier said another local woman narrowly avoided being caught in a scam. She had been advertising to sell furniture and was contacted via telephone by a potential scam artist. That individual wanted to send her a check for $1,000 that would cover the cost of the item and she could then turn the remainder over to a person that would contact her to make shipping arrangements.

Frasier said the woman called him before cashing the check and he warned her not to accept the offer.

“I am more than happy to have someone call me about these situations,” he said. “It is much easier to answer a few questions than it is to fill out a crime report for theft and then conduct an investigation.”

He said online scams are much easier to detect — but they still hook a lot of victims. He said the scenarios are roughly the same: a soldier, deposed dictator, dying patient or some other sympathetic personality asks for help.

“These people go out fishing and look for people to prey on — usually with some kind of hard luck story,” said Frasier.

He said the perpetrators of these crimes rarely ask for more than $3,000. He said that is the maximum amount that can be wired at one time and anything over that figure can trigger a bank to file a transaction report with the IRS.

“If you fall for one of these scams the chances of getting your money back is going to be pretty nonexistent. So you need to be suspicious going into anything that promises you instant riches,” said Frasier.

Hood River City Police Detective Anthony Frasier recommends that citizens report fraud or keep abreast of the latest scams by accessing these Web sites:

n OnGuardOnline.gov provides practical tips from the federal government and technology industry about ways to secure your computer and protect your personal information.

n The Oregon Department of Justice can be reached at www.doj.state.or.us and has links to marketplace protection laws. A complaint form is also available for consumers who have been victimized in the marketplace. Citizens can learn how to opt out of pre-screened credit offers and protect themselves against identity theft.

n The Internet Crime Complaint Center, www.ic3.gov, is a partnership between the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center. The mission of the agency is to receive, develop and refer criminal complaints of cyber crime to the property authorities.

n Lists of scams are posted at www.phonebusters.com, a Canadian anti-fraud call center.