ELYRIA – A Cleveland Street business and the local offices of a nationwide shipping company are among the latest to fall victim to what police say is a variation of an old check scam.

According to reports, police became aware of the scam when officials of B.M. Rebuilders, a machinery repair and rebuilding firm, reported someone had illegally gained access to the firm’s United Parcel Service account information and used its UPS tracking numbers to send letters containing unsolicited phony checks issued by a “mystery shopper” service. Police said scammers continued to illegally use the Elyria firm’s UPS account even after its tracking information was changed.

The checks typically are accompanied by instructions to deposit them into personal bank accounts, Elyria police Lt. Andy Eichenlaub said.

“They usually tell the recipient to keep a fairly low percentage of the check as payment and for shopping at certain stores, and then use Western Union to forward the balance to another Western Union location, usually outside the U.S.,” he said. “What happens is that the delivery is rerouted so the sender never knows where it’s being delivered.”

People who forward the balance of funds from the phony checks learn too late in most instances that the checks were no good and that they have been duped out of their own funds, Eichenlaub said.

While mystery shopping is a legitimate enterprise, it is exploited by lots of scammers, according to the Web site CBSmoneywatch.com.

According to the Web site, illegal “shopping services” typically send bogus checks for several thousand dollars to people, instructing them to buy small items in order to rate a certain retailer.

Actual mystery shopping companies offer modest payments following shopping and completion of evaluation forms. Scammers ask recipients to wire the rest of the money – in real checks – as part of an evaluation of a bank or wire service. Once such checks are determined to be bogus, which can take weeks, banks hold individuals liable for the money.

Employees of the Elyria company reported getting calls from more than a dozen states about the bogus mailings, police reports said.

“This is akin to those schemes where older folks get calls from someone claiming to be a grandkid needing $5,000 to get out of jail somewhere after a car crash,” Eichenlaub said. “Inevitably, people fall for it.”

Some 30 individual letters were sent using the firm’s UPS account.

“Someone intercepted the routing number and was using that to deliver letters and checks,” Eichenlaub said.

Neither the Elyria UPS office nor the company suspects employees are involved in the scam, said Eichenlaub, who offered this advice: “Nobody gives something for nothing. If it sounds too good to be true, it is.”

Contact Steve Fogarty at 329-7146 or sfogarty@chroniclet.com.

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