TULSA COUNTY, Okla. — When scammers tried to trick Stephanie Moore into cashing a bogus check, she reached out to 2 News asking us to listen to and share her story.
Moore recently started up a business cleaning houses for people either moving in or moving out.
She has a website, uses Facebook, and other social media to let people know about her business so it isn't uncommon for potential clients to just contact her out of the blue.
One texted saying he had a house that needed cleaning. He sent her the address and then texted that he would be sending a check for more than her fee.
Moore told 2 News the text said, "We're gonna have a handyman at the house if you could just give the extra money to him for some work he's done for us."
The message made Moore worry something wasn't quite right. When she received a FedEx package containing the check she felt more alarmed.
"It was for $1,900 over the amount that we had agreed upon," said Moore but that wasn't all.
"The name on the check was like a children's association in another state. The house was here in Tulsa. Then the name on the FedEx package was different than the name on the check and the name they gave me in the text."
To confirm something wasn't right, she called the listing agent for the home that was supposed to be cleaned.
"She said, we did not hire anybody to clean the house." Moore said. "So then I knew for sure it was a scam."
Fortunately, Moore did not cash the check.
The whole point of this type of scam is to get the victim to cash the check and hand over the "extra cash" before their bank realizes the check is bogus. Cashing the check leaves the victim on the hook for cashing a bad check and the loss of funds.
Moore wants to warn other small businesses to be on the lookout for this scheme and she also let the bad guys know she caught onto his attempted fraud.
"I was so angry because I know when you're first starting out you're desperate for that money and so to think that somebody's taking advantage of small businesses like this," Moore said, "My text back to them said, "I did receive your check, but I've since realized this is a scam. So, I'm going to contact the local news. I'm going to post about this on social media. I'm gonna let Tulsa PD know about it. Like you're not going to do this to somebody else."
If you receive similar messages and checks report it to your local police and the Federal Trade Commission. It tracks these schemes.
ReportFraud.ftc.gov
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