Warning on cash scams

By Bridget Brady and Jade Lawton
A CRANBOURNE woman has warned residents not to fall for a scam that requests people transfer $300 in order to access a cheque.
Kirsty Roberts received an overseas phone call from someone claiming to be from the Department of Reclaim Experts, who said they had $3647 for her.
She was told to call a senior accounts manager called Brian Adams.
Ms Roberts knew the call sounded suspicious, but thought she would follow it up.
“I thought, this is a rort, but I’ll see how far they’d go,” she said.
Ms Roberts called the alleged senior accounts manager, who told her to go to the post office and transfer $300 as part of a government tax.
Ms Roberts called her bank to be sure nothing bogus had taken place, and her bank told her they were aware of the scam as someone had called up to confirm people’s bank details.
Ms Roberts heard the scammers called back a few weeks later and ask to double check what people’s account numbers were.
Ms Roberts warned people not to be lured in with the promise of money.
“I never give anyone my bank details.”
In a similar scam, police have confiscated bogus travellers cheques presented to post offices in Pakenham, Fountain Gate and Dandenong.
Detective Sergeant Phil Jury, from Pakenham’s Criminal Investigation Unit, said some Pakenham residents successfully cashed in the cheques on Wednesday 8 December.
“They’ve turned out to be fake. It appears they received the cheques from a contact in Ghana after they answered an ad on the internet, along the lines of this company wanting to test their security protocols,” he said.
The scammers sent the cheques with instructions for the recipient to try and exchange it for cash, which then had to be deposited in a Western Union account. For their trouble, the people participating in the scam were entitled to keep some of the money.
Det Sgt Jury said there was enough information available about scams originating from Africa for people to be suspicious of such offers.
“My warning, to people who do this, we will charge them. If you don’t get charged, you will get arrested.”
Det Sgt Jury said the culprits were also liable to repay the money they received through deception.
“If people do this, if they think it’s dodgy but might try it anyway, that is a criminal offence,” he said.
“If you think it is too good to be true, it probably is.”