Postal Scam: Wal-Mart Secret Shoppers: Check Forge

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Not quite a Newb Joined: 10 Aug 2008 Posts: 56

Be careful with this one. I know people here will see it for what it is, a scam. My sister turned 18 recently and applied for a job at Wal-Mart a few weeks ago. She got a letter in the mail today. There was no return address. It was from a company in Canada offering her a job as a secret shopper or something to the equivalent for 60 bucks an hour at Wal-Mart. Enclosed was a cashier's check for 950 dollars. The letter wanted her to cash the check at walmart and use money gram to transfer the cash to a woman with a similiar name in Canada. The check was so realistic it was scary.

She showed it to me and I told her this was a scam. We traveled to Wal-Mart and showed it to the two store managers. I asked if it was possible for the electronic application server to be hacked or anything else since the fake company used Wal-Mart's logo at the bottom of the page with McDonald's, Pizza Hut, and a lot of others.

The managers photocopied the letter and the realistic looking check. Here's the kicker, on the photocopy the check had VOID written all over it. It was not visible on the check when you held it up to the light. The check was an impressive forge. We took it to the police station and spoke to the detective in the fraud department. Also I contacted my local news channel to inform them. A reporter is supposed to be calling me but I haven't heard from them yet. It looked so realistic so you might want to pass the word around.

I have no idea how they got her info.

One good thing came from it. My sister was offered a job at Wal-Mart after this incident. Very Happy

Posted: Fri Aug 15, 2008 7:12 am

We see a lot of these kinds of scams. I'm glad that your sister didn't fall for it.

Congrats to her on the new job. Very Happy

Posted: Fri Aug 15, 2008 11:54 am

Texas Twister wrote:

on the photocopy the check had VOID written all over it. It was not visible on the check when you held it up to the light

I have not heard of that before, and I cannot offer an explanation... Confused

Anyway, nice catch, and good luck to sis... Thumbs up

Posted: Fri Aug 15, 2008 12:53 pm

Quote:

on the photocopy the check had VOID

A check security feature - Means it was written using a type of real check paper

Posted: Fri Aug 15, 2008 1:42 pm

^^^Ah now I understand. So its not possible to replicate an original cheque made on that paper.

I'm gonna photocopy my cheque book now right now... Very Happy

Posted: Fri Aug 15, 2008 6:39 pm

Congratulations to your sister. It would appear that her desire to be open and honest showed, and Wal-Mart saw good potential. I'm sure she will do well there.

If the letter arrived by mail, take it to the USPS. They take a dim view of forged and fake checks going through their system.

Slightly off-topic - I saw a news report the other day about an elderly couple who were nearly scammed by a phone call from someone pretending to be their grandson. They were saved by the fact that Wal-Mart refused to wire the money to Canada for them, telling them that it was probably a scam. Then when the kid called back to see if the money had been sent, the couple asked him some questions he couldn't answer, and that was the end.

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