Utahns becoming suspicious of check scam

Another check scam has hit Utah, but this time people aren't falling for it.

This is a huge problem in Utah. Thousands of people fall for these financial scams every year. But the FBI says now Utahns are becoming a lot more suspicious of the scam. A case in point is a Kaysville woman who trusted her instinct and refused to fall victim.

What would you do if you got a check in the mail for thousands of dollars?

Kathy Haws said, "I'm reading the letter and it just doesn't sit right, but this check looks so real."

It was a fake check for nearly $5,000 from a real bank in Wisconsin, part of a promised $250,000 in prize money.

Haws said, "It was a check that was sent out from a company saying I had won $250,000 in a sweepstakes. And I do enter them once in a while, so I was kind of excited."

Here's the catch, though: The sweepstakes company requests you pay $3,000 in taxes before you get your big check.

"So that struck a big question mark in my mind as to why they would do that," Haws said.

So Kathy Haws called the bank, Anchorbank in Wisconsin, about the check and found out it was all a fraud.

Gillian Harvie of Anchorbank said, "We have been receiving calls. We see that as a good sign. That means people are suspicious. They're calling us and saying, ‘Is this check real?' And we're most definitely telling them, ‘No, it's not.'"

The FBI in Salt Lake says it receives at least 20 calls a month about these scams. Agents say most of the time there are dead giveaways to look out for:

• When the bank on the check is located in one state and the postage is out-of-country
• When you have to pay money to get money
• When you are supposed to give your Social Security number or bank routing number

Utah started a financial crimes task force last year to protect residents. If you get one of the fraudulent checks, experts say destroy it, then call the Department of Commerce to report it.

E-mail: ngonzales @ksl.com

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