Letter – Don't be duped

Talk about it

To the editor:

My wife Peggy and I recently nearly became the victims of a scam that could have cost us more than $5,000. We were very suspicious of the offer, which was supposedly from an art supplier in Great Britain. The company, as far as we could tell in investigating it, was legitimate.

They had obtained my name off the Minnesota Unemployment Web site, where I had a resume posted.

The story was that they needed help transferring funds from U.S. customers to their Great Britain facility. It initially sounded too good to be true, so we called the attorney general’s office and they said it was probably a scam. We thought we would take it as far as it would go without putting ourselves at risk.

They sent us a check for $5,412.04 from a company called Century Aluminum based in West Virginia. This company was also legitimate as far as we could determine. The check was drawn on Fleet Bank in South Portland, Maryland. In calling the bank we were able to determine that the routing number, account number and company name all matched.

We deposited the check, asking how long it would be before we could be sure the funds were legitimate. They told us approximately five days and put a hold on the funds for that period. We were in total agreement with the hold.

During this time, I received several e-mails from a Davis Morgan, assuring me that everything was above board, but we maintained our suspicious attitudes.

Today we found out that the check was fraudulently drawn on the funds of Century Aluminum.

Thanks to the First State Bank of Kensington, Georgia Nelson in particular and our own suspicions, we didn’t lose any money.

Our hope is this letter will prevent others from being duped.

Jim and

Peggy Brendel

Kensington, MN

Tags: opinion, letter, to, the, editor, jim, peggy, brendel