The Athens County Sheriff's Office is searching for a local scammer in connection with an international checking scam that has produced four counterfeit checks mimicking those of the Athens County Auditor's Office.
The Sheriff's Office has definitively traced one fake check for $11,960 bearing the Athens County auditor's name back to an individual in Nigeria, but because the check is so similar to authentic auditor's checks, officers are looking for a local contact person, said Athens County Sheriff's Deputy Jason Kline.
Certainly there is a local tie here somewhere
Kline said. Obviously they had to get a copy of our auditor's checks.
The Nigerian man cannot be prosecuted because Nigeria has no telecommunications laws, Kline said.
Officials from the county Auditor's Office discovered fake copies of their checks were being passed around the country after receiving a call from a North Carolina businessman. The businessman, who was serving as a middleman in a transaction to ship laptop computers to Nigeria, had received a check for $5,000 more than what he was expecting, Kline said. The fake check, apparently from the businessman's Nigerian contact, bore the name of the Athens County Auditor's Office.
This check was almost identical to genuine auditor's checks, said Athens County Auditor Jill Thompson, but the North Carolina man did not cash the check after officials at the Auditor's Office told him it was not authentic.
Last week, the Auditor's Office received a call from another individual in New York questioning the validity of another check with the Auditor's Office name on it. Thompson said this check appeared to have been generated online because it only had four check numbers. Genuine Auditor's Office checks have six check numbers.
Though he was told by the Auditor's Office that the check was not authentic, the New York man -listed on the check as Christopher Erickson -cashed it anyway for $5,700.06 with another fake check of unknown value. Both checks bore the Auditor's Office name.
In investigating that incident, bank officials discovered another fake check had been cashed. This check was made out to an Arizona woman, Sherry St. Clair, for $3,200. The check was apparently cashed at Bank One, Thompson said, and it was almost identical to the check cashed by the New York man.
The Athens County auditor does not bear responsibility for the lost money, Thompson said.
My understanding is no (we don't bear responsibility) because the banks should not have cashed these checks she said.
A spokesman for Bank One did not return phone calls seeking comment by The Post's deadline.
The Athens County Sheriff's Office is investigating all the incidents and should have more information in a month after subpoenas for IP addresses are processed, Kline said.
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