Counterfeit checks spotted at two local businesses
By Diana Royal Staff Writer

STAFF - DIANA ROYAL Counterfeit checks like this one were presented at First National Bank and the Money Market on Tuesday.

The scams just keep getting better.

That's what First National Bank head teller Debra Koziol said yesterday (Tuesday) after two young women attempted to cash three American Express gift checks totaling $1,500.

"My girls are trained to know what to look for," Koziol said, adding that the tellers knew something was wrong when the checks were not signed. She explained that travelers checks are not released from the bank without the purchaser's signature, but "the checks looked real," she continued. "The best I've ever seen."

The two young women claimed the three $500 checks were received by mail, with a letter containing instructions on how to cash them but never any mention as to what they were for in the first place.

Koziol said the women were advised to take the checks to the Waynesboro Police Department, along with the letter, but upon talking with chief investigator Gene Boseman, she learned the girls had never shown up.

A similar counterfeit check, however, did show up just a few hours later at the Money Market. According to Boseman, a young woman entered the business, $500 check in hand. The store employee informed her it was a fake after verifying with American Express, and the young woman walked out, leaving the check behind. Boseman said it was unknown at the time if the check was one of the three that had surfaced at the bank earlier.

While looking over photo copies of the checks Koziol made, Waynesboro Police Chief Karl E. Allen said the counterfeits are "looking so good now" that it's difficult to tell the real from the fake. He did point out that American Express does not, however, sell checks in the amount of $500.

He urged bank and business employees to verify checks are real unless they know someone personally or have done business with them before.

While it's undetermined whether the two young women at First National were being scammed or just being scammers, they had not filed a report at the WPD as of press time.

"We could have called the police," Koziol said, "but they just looked young and innocent."