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Checks continue to be cashed Saturday, Aug 20, 2005 By Rob Moritz Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK ? The number of states reporting forged Arkansas checks is now at 22 and the amount of money actually cashed has reached $114,400, state Auditor Jim Wood said Friday. None of the forged Arkansas checks have been found in state and Arkansas has not lost any money, Wood said. ?The checks have been found before they cleared the treasurer?s office,? Wood said, adding that they were cashed at liquor stores or check-cashing stores. Attorney Gen. Mike Beebe said Friday that his office, along with the FBI, state Department of Finance and Administration, and the U.S. Postal Inspectors Office continue to investigate the forgeries. The scam was discovered last week when an employee at a San Diego, Calif., liquor store telephoned the state auditor?s office asking about a state check that someone was trying to cash in the store. Employees in the state auditor?s office checked and determined the check had the same number as one cashed legitimately earlier this summer in California. The scam targets individuals who post resumes online, primarily at Careerbuilder.com Web site, Beebe said at a news conference earlier this week. Soon after the resume is posted, the job hunter receives an e-mail from someone claiming to represent ?Void Computers Inc.? They tell the job hunter they are a foreign company doing a lot of business with people in the United States and they are having trouble, because they are in another country, cashing these checks. They also claim one of their clients is the state of Arkansas. Two forged state of Arkansas checks are then sent to the job seeker from an address in Turkey with instructions to cash them and wire 90 percent of the money to an address in Latvia. The checks are for $2,400 or $2,800. The job hunter is told not to cash the checks at a bank, but to go to a liquor store or check-cashing company. Wood said the forged checks look similar to state of Arkansas warrants except they all have the same number, 05I-06143000. Wood also said the checks are slightly larger than authentic state warrants, and his signature is different on the fake checks. In about half of the cases, the checks were cashed and 90 percent of the cash was sent to Latvia, said Karla Wise, the chief deputy of the state auditor?s office. Reports of forged checks have come from Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia. Anyone with information about the forged checks should call Auditor of States office at 501-682-6000. |
