The Blank Check Swindle

If you read this blog regularly, you've no doubt noticed a gradual decline in posts. The reason for this drop-off is not the dissipation of my fervor, but a lack of new material. There's only so much you can say about Advance Fee fraud and its perpetrators.

Sadly, I have something new to report: The Blank Check con. While  embarrassed that they snuck this one past me, I am not going to let my  embarrassment stop me from exposing the tricks the Caribbean slimeballs use to fool innocent people.

Thus here is an overview of the latest game the crooks ran on my father, who effectively has no access to cash:

1. They told my dad they would need a blank check to "verify to the IRS and FBI that the 3.5 million dollars are to be deposited in your account." (Huh?)
2. Instead of having my father send the check to Jamaica, the fraudsters had him mail it to a collaborator in the U.S. (the scammers are too smart to accept checks personally, but will happily let money mules receive them and take all of the risk).
3. The helper forged the check, cashed it, and sent the proceeds to the crooks.

Though it is unclear at this stage, I suspect that, like my father, the check-casher is being duped by the con men. True or not, this much is certain: He forged a check and will be prosecuted, because I aim to get my dad's money back, and because the threat of prosecution may be the only thing preventing the go-between from throwing his money away, too.

In summation, here are the takeaways from my latest encounter with the scammers:

• Never send checks or give checking account information to strangers, no matter what they promise.
• Do not accept or attempt to cash checks, from alleged sponsors or past winners of sweepstakes or lotteries.
• Do not wire the proceeds of such checks to strangers, either overseas or in the United States.
• If you are the guardian of a "scambler," restricting your ward's access to cash may not be enough; you may have to take away their checkbook as well as their credit cards.

So much for the Blank Check swindle. As with all the other schemes I have recounted in this blog, I hope that my father's loss is your gain.