Cashing In A Problem

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Story Published: Jul 10, 2008 at 5:22 PM PST

By Sade Malloy

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Yakima -- From the looks of it this cashier's check is as real as they get.

There's a routing number, bank logo, even a watermark but looks can be deceiving.

Teresa Milam says, "You look at the check and you're thinking oh this is a God sent but it's really not."

This cashier's check is a fake.

Teresa's received three of these in the past month.

They come with a letter from Shoppers Critique Inc. congratulating you on being selected as a secret shopper.

But there's no real work going on here.

The only thing real about the scam is the name and logo of the bank on the check.

I called the Dolores State Bank in Dolores, Colorado and it turns out the scam artists took their logo from their website.

Doug Aiken, Dolores State Bank says, "Probably 1,000 or more of those that have been sent to individuals all across the country."

Sade Malloy, Action News says, "It's the person cashing this check that really gets burned. If you take it to a credit union or bank and they cash it right away and then realize it's a fake, well they're coming after you for this amount."

Teresa Milam says, "Unfortunately so many people have lost their jobs people are looking for that god sent to com in the mail or any other way they can get it."

The Dolores State Bank tells Action News they know of 12 cashier check scams going on right now.

They're becoming so popular the bank's executive VP thinks they could make cashier checks worthless in the future.

Doug Aiken, Dolores State Bank says, "Just because they don't have any idea if they're going to get their money for it or not."

And that's a risk most would probably like to avoid.

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