Athens County Sheriff Vern Castle wants residents to be aware of a potential Internet scam.
Castle received word of the potential swindle in June, when a local man reported that he might have been a victim.
The resident had advertised the sale of his restored John Deer tractor for $4,500, on the Internet. The resident was contacted by someone claiming to be from Nigeria who sent him a check for $12,000 with instructions to cash it, keep the $4,500 for the tractor and send the rest back to Nigeria. The tractor would then be picked up at a later time. When the local resident went to cash the check, the bank discovered it was bad, Castle said.
The idea behind the scam was for the resident to cash the bad check, write a good check for $7,500 and then be stuck having to pay the bank the $7,500, he said.
This is not the first such incident in this area. At least one similar con took place in Hocking County, Castle said. The FBI has been contacted and is involved in the investigation.
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Matt Hutton
