Money order scam hits the Flathead

The Daily Inter Lake

The U.S. Postal Service has issued an alert about a fraud scheme involving counterfeit postal money orders.

According to Al DeSarro of U.S. Postal Service Communications in Denver, the scam is being advanced through the Internet in chat rooms, auction sites and e-mail, and over the telephone.

Three cases were reported in the Flathead Valley on Monday - two at Kalispell banks and one at an Evergreen bank branch.

According to postal inspectors, the scam begins when a victim is contacted by someone through an Internet chat room or online auction site, claiming to have financial problems or needing help to cash domestic or international postal money orders.

The person in need often claims to be living in a foreign country (usually Nigeria), but the scam artist can cook up the scheme from any location. The scam artist is supposedly looking for someone in the United States to cash the money orders and return the money via wire transfer.

U.S. residents are lured into the scam when they are told they can keep some of the money as a gift or payment for their help. Unsuspecting victims provide their home mailing address to the fraudster and are told they will receive a check or postal money order that they should deposit into their own bank account. The victim then is instructed to immediately wire the money to a bank or person located outside the United States.

Victims learn the postal money order is counterfeit only when they attempt to cash it, or when their bank account takes a hit for the full amount when the bank refuses payment on the bogus deposit. For more information about postal money order security features, visit the U.S. Postal Service Web site at www.usps.com/missingmoneyorders/security.

Anyone who has been involved in the scam should contact local law enforcement.