Valley View man alerts police of 'reverse scam'

VALLEY VIEW – Paul J. Burinda was going to use the money from the sale of his waterbed for his college boarding expenses.
Instead, the Valley View 19-year-old got stuck with an unsold bed and narrowly escaped becoming a victim of an on-line scam.
Burinda filed a report with the Hegins Township Police Department on Jan. 19, after he received a check sent to him via FedEx in an amount much greater than the $150 he had requested for his waterbed on Craig’s List.  The check was written to Burinda for $2,450 and dated Jan. 16.  It listed Sweeny Stop, of Sweeny, TX, on the check and the Texas Gulf Bank, of Angleton, TX.
Someone named “Rich” emailed Burinda telling him, “...the overpayment is meant to cover the cost of shipment for the item alongside my other properities including tax and insurance plus the movers fee.”
Another person’s name was listed as a mover coordinator from Atlanta, GA.
Although this was the first time Burinda had tried to sell anything on-line, he was immediately suspicious.
“I was going to use that $150 for my room deposit, but I knew right away that something was wrong,” said the University of New Haven, Conn., sophomore.
He was told by police to tear up the check. His father, Paul D. Burinda, also called the bank number listed on the check on Jan. 20 and was told it was a fraud.
“We don’t know how it’s originating,” said Kathy Hinkle, Vice-President of Operations for Texas Gulf Bank, during a phone interview.
According to Hinkle, one of the bank’s customers, Sweeny Stop, had its checks compromised.  For the past week, the bank has been receiving phone calls from across the nation inquiring about the validity of the checks, she said.
It has occurred before with other customers at other banks, as well, she said.
“It’s not just our bank in our city.  It’s happening all over.  They’re (scammers) recruiting people and making up their own checks,” Hinkle said.
She recommends people avoid putting personal information on their checks, such as their driver’s license numbers, or other identifiable information.
A check written for an amount greater than the cost of an item should be an immediate alarm, or red flag, that the check is bogus, she said.
Meanwhile, Lauri Saathoff, Press Secretary for the Texas Attorney General’s Office, reports that office does not have any consumer complaints against Sweeny Stop or Texas Gulf Bank.  She said the individual who received the check for more than what was owed should be cautious.  Sending cashier’s checks made out for too much money is a common check cashing fraud, she said.
Hegins Township Police Chief Steven S. Lohr said his department may get one or two scams reported to them each year.
“It’s a reverse scam and there’s no end to what people will come up with,” Lohr said.  Often times, consumers send money for items they never receive.  In a reverse scam, the scam “buyer” sends too much money for the cost of an item and asks the seller to take his portion out, and then forward the balance of the funds back to the scam “buyer”. 
Lohr said he had attended a web scam seminar at Hershey several years ago, focusing on the problem.  One of the scams, he noted, involved a family who was ripping off customers by on-line selling of expired and glued together disposable cameras and corroded batteries. It doesn’t have to be big ticket items for it to be a scam, he explained.
Lohr suggests people never ship any item they’re selling before they receive their money in the bank, and if you’re a buyer, never send money to people you do not know or have never met.
There are several ways to keep yourself safe as a consumer, according to Lauren Bozart, Assistant Press Secretary for the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office.
She said Craig’s List and other on-line companies do list their own personal safety tips directly on their websites.  They recommend buyers and sellers try to find consumers locally and to never wire funds.
Bozart said if you try to cash a check that turns out to be fraudulent, the person trying to cash the check will be held responsible. 
Other tips are to never give out financial information over the phone or on-line such as your social security number; to meet with the person directly during the transaction; and to do your research.  Anything that sounds too good to be true, is. 
People who believe they may have been scammed, or who have a concern about a business practice, are encouraged to contact the state’s Consumer Protection Hotline at 1-800-441-2555, or visit the website at www.attorneygeneral.gov.
The Federal Trade Commission also has valuable information at its website at www.ftc.gov.  Visitors to that site should go to “consumer protection”, “computers and the internet” and then to “web scams”, or call the toll-free helpline at the consumer response center at 1-877-FTC-HELP, or 1-877-382-4357.

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