Scams and fraud dominate the new world in which we live, even in Hohenwald

Are you an older adult? Do you have savings? Do you live alone? Then be on the lookout for scammers. The Tennessee Attorney General's Office wants seniors, their families, and caretakers to know about common phone and internet scams, how to stop them, and how to get help and report them.

Even the Post Office is not immune to scammers, in fact as an estimated 1.3 billion holiday cards descended on the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) this holiday season, there is a growing problem that the agency would love to stamp out: counterfeit postage stamps sold on Facebook, eBay and illicit websites.

Scammers use the internet or telephone to trick millions of people every year into sending money or giving out personal information. Scammers can be polite and charming. They may say they work for a company that you recognize. They may know your name or certain things about you and make you feel special. They promise things like lottery winnings, prizes, friendship, or romance. But they don't keep these promises. And the worst of these trash people will even call old folk and the likes to tell you that your son or daughter has been in a car accident, or is in jail and needs money for hospital bills or to get them out of jail.

HOW DOES A PHONE OR INTERNET SCAM WORK? Scammers may offer prizes, products, or services. They want you to say "yes" quickly. They say you must act right away. They may even try to scare you by saying you could be taken to court or to jail. Look out for statements like those.

Counterfeit Check Scam – A transaction in which a payment by check turns out to be more than the price of the item. The seller is asked to provide the overage in the form of gift cards. The check is fake, and the seller is indebted to the bank and loses money paid through the gift cards.

I was one of these people who was hit with a scam - with a bank cashier's check drawn on the largest bank in Texas and Florida. The people in Florida wanted to buy one of my antique British cars. The car in question was a 1970 fully restored, frame off Triumph TR6, a rare car, and fully worth the $20,000 I was asking.

They contacted me by email, never by phone, saying they had seen my advertisement on the Nashville British Car Club web. They were very interested and could they see more pictures of the vehicle.

I sent them more pictures of the car, not disclosing my name or address, etc. They came back and said, we're happy about the price, and they would send me a bank cashiers check by express mail for the amount. They would also include an additional $5,000 to send to the driver who was picking the car up. Red Flag (1)

True to their word, they sent a U.S. Postal Service Priority Mail envelope which contained the bank cashiers check. The envelope also contained the address of the sender and the post office it was mailed from in West Palm Beach.

The cashier's check was deposited into my bank account here in Hohenwald on that Friday. By Wednesday the bank informed me the check had bounced. This a bank cashiers check. Thankfully I had not done what they had asked me, which was to send a money order for $5,000 to the driver. They had given me his name and his address and after a Google satellite search, I was able to see a picture of the driver's house. I scanned and searched the area and found little to indicate that he was in the business of hauling anything. Second question and second red flag. Why would you send a driver all the way from Miami to pick a car up here in Lewis County and transport it all the way back to Florida again. It didn't make sense. So I held out in regards to sending them anything but informed the bank, the police and the sheriff's department. None could really help, and as they said, the Feds didn't really want to know about it unless the amount was over $250,000.

But just watching television across the country from the major news channels you very quickly are made aware that this is a national problem of immense proportions. It wasn't just the large cities that were being hit, it was small towns such as Hohenwald that were getting hit as well.

Citizens Bank of Lewis County said, "This is becoming more and more common, in fact in the last month we have had about twenty vank cashiers checks presented. So many that we are having to put a hold on the checks for at least seven to ten days before they clear. It's not like the old days when a bank cashiers check from whatever bank was like having cash in your hand, we just can't afford to do that any more. It isn't just the banks, places like Walmart who have check cashing facilities are also getting scammed regularly."

Back to my worthless check for $25,100. I informed the buyers in Florida (never on the phone, always by email) that I was unsure about sending the cash, but would do it bank to bank to make sure they got the money that same day, and to please email me the name, address and bank to bank routing numbers and I would do it straight away.

Now it gets more complicated. They emailed the name of the driver plus his banking routing details. I still didn't send them anything. I still had the car. Still had the title and had not paid them a dime.

So I informed the prospective buyer in Florida, or wherever they were, and told them all that I knew. I didn't hear from them again. But on checking my emails a day or so later, and unknown to me, they had gotten into my email account and had removed the two emails from them in regards to the banking details. Now this is scary that they could do this to someone who has a reasonable amount of common sense and savvy. Imagine what it could do to old folk.

Sgt. Brent Bridges, a 22 year veteran of the police force who works with Hohenwald Police Department said, "In the past five years I have been working on fraud cases and scams that have affected all ages, young and old, this is not for a few dollars but in this case many thousands of dollars.

"The point in question was a case I have been working on for over a month that concerned one of the largest companies and employers in Lewis County. The file on this case is now close to an inch thick, and we are still no further along.

"The scammers sent in the bills for work they had done, or supposedly had done, of course there was never any work done, but as was the case with major companies having bills to pay each day, it slipped through the cracks. A check was issued to the scammers for $17,038.

"By the time it was realized that they had been scammed, the check had already been cashed, and probably moved to three or four different banks and accounts that same day. So by the next day the money was already offshore, and gone.

"Sadly the same thing happened again just four weeks later and another check was issued by the company, this time for $18,500 before it was noticed. So in a period of close to four weeks the scammers had stolen over $35,000, the money of which was probably well offshore."

Sgt. Bridges stated, now you say, why don't the police or Feds follow this up? If the money stayed in the country that may be possible to do, but as soon as it is transferred offshore, we as a police or federal entity, cannot pursue it as it is out of our jurisdiction and protected by law.

"There are so many cases," continued Sgt. Bridges, "and they are not getting less, far from it, they are getting more and more each month. The scammers are dangerous people who if they don't get what they want from you will, in some cases, threaten you or your family with bodily harm. I certainly don't want my family threatened in any way or form, I can only imagine that others feel the same way as I do."

"There is no quick answer but ask yourself the old old question, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Don't be too quick to answer the phone when you are unsure who it is, and if you have answered the phone and are speaking to someone and they start asking questions, never ever give them your name, bank details and especially your Social Security Card number," he concluded.

If I had anything else to add to this, I would ask the Mayor, Chief of Police, Sheriff and others for a town hall meeting. I would suggest that people who are more informed about scammers - police, sheriff's officers, and government officials - come to that meeting and talk to the citizens of Hohenwald and Lewis County and make them more aware of this major nationwide problem that affects all of us and certainly isn't going away in the near future.