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Andrew Spencer, KSL Newsradio Investigators led by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service have arrested 77 people and seized $2.1 billion in connection with an international counterfeit check scam.
A lot of people are cashing bad checks, and it's been happening for a while. "You know, we told people about this a year ago. It didn't do any good," postal inspector Randy Tuckett said.
Tuckett says scammers are creating counterfeit bank checks from overseas and having a few gullible Americans wire them the money. "Who knows why that is, but apparently people are very trusting of what comes over the Internet," he said.
So if a check is for more than you ask, don't offer to wire the extra money back. "We've figured, on average, the people who get taken in by this loose between $3,000 to $4,000," Tuckett said.
For more information on the crackdown and how to report fraudulent activity, click the related link.
