Wal-Mart Check Copying Scam

Emailed alert written on Louisiana Dept. of Public Safety stationary warns of a 'multi-city' check copying scam run by a ring of Wal-Mart employees

Description: Email flier / .PDF file
Circulating since: July 2007
Status: Unconfirmed

Email example contributed by Wanda F., 30 July 2007:

Subject: Fw: Wal-Mart Warning Letter

Department of Public Safety and Corrections
Public Safety Services

July 26, 2007

To All Employees:

DO NOT write checks at any Wal-Mart. There is a multi-city fraud and theft ring currently operating in Wal-Mart involving numerous employees. When you pay by check the clerk takes a picture of your check using the camera on their cell phone. This information is then downloaded, fraudulent checks made from your account, and then "let the fun begin" for the thieves. One individual that this was done to had two checks totaling over $4000.oo posted against their checking account.

Some of you are thinking "well there is no way this will affect me because I don't keep that kind of money in my account." WRONG!!!! As stated, this onvolves numerous employees. The picture is taken and after the data is downloaded the checks are printed. Later, this fake check is given to same or another cashier. The cashier DOES NOT run the check through the check fax inquiry to verify the funds. The check is placed in the drawer for deposit and no one is the wiser until some days later when the check hits your account. One of the main things being purchased by the fraudulent checks are gift cards. How nice. With a gift card from Wal-Mart, any member of the theft ring can purchase items from any Wal-Mart or Sam's Club in the nation. No identification is required to purchase with a gift card, so Sally or Sam in Shreveport can be buying that fabulous plasma TV they have always wanted with the gift card bought by a fraudulent check drawn on YOUR account and no one is any the wise until you get your bank statement or you begin to get NSF notices in the mail.

This activity has become so widespread and so numerous have been the occurrences that not only is local law enforcement authorities involved in the case, i.e. City, Sheriff, and LSP, but the FBI and the Secret Service is now investigation as well.

So, you have been warned. Protect yourself and your money. It's 2007 and the criminals only seem to get smarter.

Spb/Rjp

Comments: Albeit circulating in the form of a PDF file scanned from a document composed on the letterhead of the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections (see image), this may or may not be a legitimate employee memorandum. (UPDATE: See Louisiana State Police statement below.) According to the limited data stored in the document's file properties, it was created at 5:53 a.m. on July 26, 2007. That, and the initials at the bottom -- "Spb / Rjp" -- are the only clues to its authorship. It seems doubtful that such a casually phrased, grammatically inept message would have been authorized by department officials.

If the claim that there is a "multi-city fraud and theft ring" run by "numerous" Wal-Mart employees is true -- not that it couldn't be -- I have found no evidence in news coverage or police reports to confirm it. Nor have I been able to confirm the widespread use of cell phone cameras to photograph bank checks for counterfeiting, though it has certainly become plausible with advances in the technology, and at least one state is considering legislation to discourage this method of identity theft.

What I can confirm is that a Wal-Mart employee was arrested and charged with check fraud in December 2006 after she was caught retaining, altering, and reusing customer checks to make thousands of dollars worth of unauthorized purchases on victims' bank accounts. No cell phone cameras were involved, nor was a "fraud and theft ring" mentioned in a KTRK-TV news report on the crime, though a police spokesman was quoted as saying there could be more arrests in the case. Clerks at Wal-Mart stores use an electronic scanner to process checks and are supposed to hand them back to the customer after scanning them -- a protocol Wal-Mart patrons would do well to remember for their own safety and security.

Update: Statement from Louisiana State Police

A statement released by the Louisiana State Police on July 31, 2007 describes the letter in question as "unauthorized" and "not official or sanctioned in any way by the Department of Public Safety." Members of the public, the statement says, "should not rely on information contained in the letter." (Full text)

Tips for Protecting Yourself Against Check Fraud

Last updated: 08/03/07