CENTRE — District Attorney Mike O’Dell today announced the discovery of a new scam that has appeared in the area. A concerned citizen delivered to O’Dell’s a letter he had received in the mail, along with a forged check.   

“The wife of the man who came into our office, who did not want their names released, had received a letter and a check,” O’Dell said in a press release. “The check was for over $2,000 and looked very real.”

O’Dell said the letter asked the woman to deposit the check into her bank account and then go to either a Sears or a Wal-Mart and attempt to wire almost $2,000 through Western Union.

“She was going to be allowed to keep $325 for herself as a fee,” O’Dell said.

According to the letter, the company mailing the letter and the check was attempting to hire the woman as an “Independent Private Evaluator.”  After she completed the deposit and the transfer of the money, she was to complete an evaluation form detailing her impression of the way Sears or Wal-Mart, along with Western Union, handled the transaction. 

O’Dell explained that had the woman deposited the money, her bank likely would have accepted the check.  She then would have sent almost $2,000 out of her checking account.  When her bank had discovered that the check was a forgery, they would have taken the money back out of her account. 

“She would have lost every penny of what she had wired through Western Union,” O’Dell said.

O’Dell said the letter supposedly came from a company in New York, but was mailed from Canada and had a Canadian stamp on it.

“The phone number listed was for the Toronto area,” he said. “It was clearly a scam but it looked very professional.”

O’Dell said it is important that anyone who receives something like this check with law enforcement before participating.

“Mostly likely, if someone or some company just sends you money, then it’s a scam,” O’Dell said.

O’Dell said that from time to time, people will present his office with letters or emails that are scams.

“They are usually impressive in the way they are presented, such as having a check that appears real and professional looking letterhead,” he said. “However, the offer made by the person sending the letter is too good to be true.”

O’Dell said other indicators of a scam include the promise of money unexpected by the recipient, a letter that originates from a foreign country, or spelling or other grammatical errors in the letter.

“It boils down to this: If you get a letter, fax or e-mail telling you that you’ve won a lottery that you never entered, or one that includes a check for any reason and you weren’t expecting it, then it’s most likely a scam,” O’Dell said. “It’s important to be aware that we have these kinds of scams in our area. Be alert and don’t fall for it. Bring the paperwork into my office or the sheriff’s office and we will deal with it from there.”