WILLIAMSON - Working in a field requiring her to focus on the personal care of those in need, Ladonna Austin knew she had to warn others about the check she instantly recognized as a scam.

‘I knew immediately it was a scam,’ Austin, of Williamson, W.Va., said about the check she received from Greenwich Securities Inc., for $4,980. The ‘Winning Final Notification’ letter addressed to ‘Sir/Madam’ said the recipient of the check was one of 20 declared winners of $5 million, of which she had won $250,000. Austin was instructed to cash the $4,980 check, to be deducted from her winnings, and send via moneygram or Western Union $2,995 to pay the government taxes on what the company called ‘your big winnings.’

As an employee of the Coalfield CAP for the past 16-plus years, helping those who need assistance with personal needs, Austin has seen those for whom she cares swindled out of money several times.

‘I once took care of a lady who paid Social Security to Mexico,’ Austin said, asserting she told the lady not to do it as it was a scam, but the letters she got telling her to pay looked so official she feared the consequences of not following instructions. ‘I don’t know how long she paid or to whom.’ Austin also attended a seminar in Logan geared toward awareness of various types of scams and how the dishonest attempt to get unsuspecting citizens’ money.

This particular scam, in which citizens in Kentucky have also been invited to participate, is well known. While at the bank getting a new debit card, Austin told bank employees about the check and they shared with her a lot of people fall for this scam and end up having to pay the money out of their own bank accounts, especially seniors. Knowing how hard it is for seniors to afford the necessities, Austin came to the Williamson Daily with hopes of alerting anyone thinking of cashing a check like this that it is a scam.
‘Not a week passes that we don’t get a variation of the scam,’ said West Virginia Deputy Attorney General Jill Miles about calls which mostly inquire as to whether the check is legitimate.

Since it is hard to track the sender of such checks down, as they typically come from out of the country and can go through several locations, any one of which the scam artist can pick up the wired money, Miles said, ‘We typically try to stop it before it happens.’

Asserting most banks insist on the person who cashes the check to stand good for the money, Miles said people who participate in the scams sometimes face legal charges themselves. The West Virginia Attorney General’s Office is currently working in conjunction with the AARP, a nonprofit organization which works for the education and support of senior citizens, on an educational piece on internet fraud which tells of a man in Wayne County who was arrested on fraud charges himself.

The AG’s Web site, www.wvago.gov, tells the story of Earl Walls, a 65-year-old disabled retired factory worker who was duped into a wire transfer scam which led to him being handcuffed Sept. 26, 2006, and escorted out of a Wayne County bank. Walls believed he was cashing 12 $500 checks for an acclaimed artist by the name of Jack Russell who own an art gallery in England.

The scheme began Sept. 2, 2006 when Walls was offered a 10 percent commission, via e-mail, for each check he processed for Russell, the AG’s office reports, adding, ‘He believed he was responding to a legitimate job offer to act as a U.S. agent for Jack Russell.’

When Walls received a box of traveler’s checks via Federal Express with instructions to deposit them in his account and wire the money to Anthony Orekoya, ‘Jack Russell’s business associate in Nigeria, Walls did so with no questions asked. He then wired the money to Nigeria, Walls told authorities, and thought nothing wrong when he received $4,000 more which he tried to deposit the day he was arrested for counterfeiting.

Fortunate for Walls, Miles said his neighbor contacted the AG’s office and confirmed the man was victimized, prompting the AG’s office to interfere and ask the prosecutor to drop the charges as the Wayne Countian really was a victim.

One way banks hold customers responsible for these fake check scams is the U.S. Expedited Funds and Availability Act which allows the bank to front the money it gives the customer when cashing a check until the bank collects the funds from the check’s issuer.

‘Seven out of 10 people who get a fake check recognize something is amiss immediately,’ Miles said about those who call the AG’s office to confirm their feelings.

A problem, as Austin pointed out, is the difficulties older citizens have with finances, especially in recent months, which has them looking for extra money.

‘Medicine is so expensive,’ said Austin, a widowed mother of two with five grand kids who knows first-hand about financial difficulties. ‘They’re struggling to pay bills and rent and their checks just don’t stretch that far. Anybody would be tempted to buy it.’

However, Miles said the AG’s office agrees with Austin’s rule when dealing with issues like the fake check she recently received from someone pretending to be a company in Pennsylvania informing her of her winnings from the ‘Shoppers Sweepstakes.’

‘When it sounds too good to be true, it usually is.’

Visit the Attorney General’s Web site at www.wvago.gov for more information about scams, or call the Attorney General’s toll free consumer hotline at 1 800-568-8808.