Scam used Northern Michigan business as pawn
TRAVERSE CITY, MI -- We have a new twist tonight on a scam involving mail fraud and a Northern Michigan business has fallen victim.
This is an elaborate scheme.
Morse Moving and Storage in Traverse City had their FedEx account stolen and they were used as a front to what seemed to be legitimate, but clearly was not.
"I've never seen it before, this is new to me!" Art Morse says.
Morse, whose family owns Morse Moving and Storage in Traverse City, says his company was part of a ploy to steal money. Tonight, he wants to send a warning about a new scam that starts with a purchase on a website like Craigslist.
"When they buy something, they were sending out more than what the cost was, they were buying it on the internet, and they were sending out checks over and above and asking them to send a refund back," explains Morse.
Morse's company's FedEx packaging information was stolen and used to deliver checks to more than 380 victims in Michigan and across the US. Inside, an overpaying check claims it is from Lim College in New York. Some victims would then wire refund money to an account and later find out the check they got was no good. A lot of these scams come from outside the country.
"It's extremely difficult to track that money once it leaves the US, there are people picking it up outside of the US and we can not determine who's picking it up," says D./Lt. Mike Wheat of the Charlevoix County Sheriff's Office.
Wheat says this is a new scam and it's increasing in popularity. What seems like a legitimate sale and an honest mistake is nothing but fraud.
"And if it's a situation where it's too good to be true, it's probably not true," says Wheat.
The FBI said they will take a look at this case because it's a federal offense to use mail to commit a crime like fraud
As far as Morse Moving and Storage, they've since changed their FedEx number and they hope to bring awareness to this so other companies don't become victims.
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