Police Warn Of Internet Scams

By Andrew Gorosko

A check counterfeiting scheme, which resulted in a local loss of $12,000, has town police warning the public to be wary of money scams that are perpetrated by swindlers via the Internet.

Police Chief Michael Kehoe said this week that an unidentified local man recently put his used automobile for sale on an Internet website.

Criminals operating out of Nigeria, who have been defrauding people of money via Internet scams, saw the automotive listing and then contacted the local man via email, expressing an interest in buying the auto for $7,000, according to Chief Kehoe.

Following a series of e-mail messages between the local man and the swindler in Nigeria, a sale agreement was reached, the police chief said.

However, instead of sending the local man a check for $7,000 for the purchase, the Nigerian buyer, using Federal Express, sent the local man a bank cashier’s check for $12,000, which was ostensibly issued by a United States bank.

The Nigerian buyer reportedly asked that the local man send back a $5,000 money order to Nigeria, minus a service charge, to facilitate shipping, or some other subterfuge, according to the police chief.

The unidentified local man cashed the check at an unidentified local bank and obtained the $12,000, Chief Kehoe said. It was later learned, however, that the check for $12,000 was a high-quality counterfeit check, which initially had appeared to be a genuine bank cashier’s check, the police chief added.

Consequently, there was a $12,000 loss. Chief Kehoe said it remains to determined whether that loss is the local bank’s loss or the local man’s loss. No money was sent back to Nigeria.

Police Detective Joseph Joudy, who is investigating this case, said the far-flung nature of Internet transactions makes it very difficult to pursue criminals in Nigeria.

Det Joudy said the Nigerian check counterfeiters have perpetrated similar scams across the United States. The criminals read countless email postings of items for sale in finding targets for their fraud, he said.

Similar scams have occurred in Bethel, Redding, and Southington, Chief Kehoe said.

“If it sounds to good to be true, it is too good to be true,” Chief Kehoe said of dubious financial transactions conducted via the Internet.

Similarly, Det Joudy urged that residents be wary of Internet financial transactions.