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November 20, 2009

APD warns of holiday crimes

By Rich Flowers News Editor

With Black Friday a week away, the Christmas shopping season is about to ramp up, and along with it, criminals who prey on busy merchants and shoppers.

Athens Police Department Det. Cpl. James Bonnette warns that frauds come in many forms, and old-fashioned check forgeries haven’t gone out of style. Bonnette specializes in fraud cases that come to the APD Crime Investigations Division.

“We’re seeing a lot of counterfeit checks,” he said. “In cases involving one of our citizens right now, all of the information on her check was used except for her first name.”

The counterfeit checks were printed with the woman’s routing number, account number, driver’s license and date of birth. The first name was changed to that of a male, Bonnette said.

“The criminals passed 57 of the bogus checks in the Dallas-Forth Worth area, at 15 different locations,” Bonnette said.

The amount written on the counterfeit checks totaled about $15,000.

“Somewhere, somehow, the woman’s account information was compromised,” Bonnette. “The message we’d like to get out there this season is to be careful with your information. Be careful who has access to it.”

APD has also received several recent reports of counterfeit currency. Bonnette said the best defense for the merchant is to spot the fake bills when the customer presents them.

Bonnette urges merchants, who might be rushed by the volume of customers coming through the check-out lines, to take special care to inspect each bill.

“If you accept a counterfeit bill, try to pass it later, and it’s discovered, you’re out the money,” Bonnette said.

The U.S. Secret Service website has valuable information that can help the merchant identify and avoid accepting bogus bills.

Bonnette’s job requires being aware of the ebb and flow of the different types of frauds and scams. In recent months credit-card fraud cases are down a little, but they could easily pick back up again. New variations on Internet scams are created daily.

Bonnette said a citizen recently brought in a letter stating that they had just won a lottery. The letter contained a bogus check to entice the would be victim turn over personal information.

“Even someone who usually has good judgement can get a little excited when they see those big numbers,” Bonnette said.

As usual, anyone who thinks they might have been a fraud victim should contact APD, at (903) 675-5454, as soon as possible.

“In these cases, the trail goes cold quickly,” Bonnette said.

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