FRANKLIN COUNTY — A Franklin County police department is warning area residents about a potential fraudulent check scam — that they learned about when their police chief was one of the scammers’ intended targets.
The Washington Township Police Department chronicled the incident Thursday on its Facebook page.
“You know the scammers are hard up when they send a bogus check to the Chief of Police,” the post begins.
According to police, Chief Barry Keller received a FedEx package Thursday morning. The envelope contained a check, along with instructions on how to quickly deposit it.
Keller did not know the company that sent the check, or the name of the person claiming to be that company’s payroll manager in the included message, police say.
“This is a SCAM,” the police department wrote. “Most likley what would happen if the Chief decided to deposit or cash this check is that he would have the full funds deposited into his account, or receive the cash back. When he made contact with the scammer, the scammer would have told him to keep a good amount of the funds and then send the remainder back to the scammer’s address.
“So now Chief Keller would be out the full amount of money because the check was a fraudulent check from a fraudulent account.”
Police say they researched KTGY, the group claiming it sent Keller the check. While there is a company by that name located in Irvine, California, police say, the street address on the check was off by two digits.
“Also, if you carefully read the instruction slip that was sent along, there are many subtle issues with the grammar,” the Facebook post said.
“Please, please, please do not fall victim to these scams,” the post concludes. “If you are ever in doubt, please contact our Police Department and ask us a question or two, we may be able to let you know right away you could possibly be the victim of a scam. If you don’t want to contact the Police Department, at least ask a friend or someone you trust.
“REMEMBER, if it sounds to go to be true, it usually is!!!”
