Eau Claire (WQOW) - Police are sending out a warning about a mailing scam to consumers. It looks legit, so officers want people to know what to look for. The scam begins with a package arriving in the mail. It contains a check for nearly $2,000 and a letter saying cash the check and wire most of the funds to a Mystery Secret Shopper.
A WQOW News 18 viewer has seen the scam first hand. They received a check in the mail for $1,900, along with a letter with instructions.
"It's telling you that you can cash this check and then you got to send in some money out of your own bank account," says Lieutenant Chad Hoyord with the Eau Claire Police Department. "That should be a flag right there."
Police say scams like this one continue to become more advanced.
"It seems real," Hoyord says. "You've got Chase Bank up in the right hand corner and you have a Progressive name on the left-hand side here. It almost looks to a normal person, it looks real."
Progressive Expert Consulting Inc. in New York, the name on the check, is trying to figure out who is responsible for sending it out. Because it knows one thing for sure, it's not them.
"We have actually been working with the local Chase Bank here over the past few days because we have had several instances of people that have faxed us or scanned and emailed us copies of checks also and the account number on there is not our account number," says Vice President of System Integration Mike Feng. "It's obviously not coming from us. Someone is out there essentially making up stuff and taking our company with it."
"If it seems like it's too good to be true, it probably is," responds Hoyord.
WQOW also spoke with Chase Bank in New York on the phone Tuesday. The bank is also listed on the check. It says it's gotten a few calls this week about the scam and confirms the check is not real. If you receive a check in the mail and you don't know where it came from, it's more than likely a scam. The best thing to do is to shred it and report it to the Better Business Bureau.
