OGDEN -- If an offer sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
That's the advice that Francine Giani, executive director of the Utah Department of Commerce, gives to people who believe they may have been scammed by thieves.
A recent scam involving fake U.S. Postal Service money orders hit close to home, and Giani wants people to know about the scam and how the public can protect themselves.
Investigators at the Division of Consumer Protection reported a Salt Lake City woman was sent $1,900 worth of fake money orders to buy a $45 dishwasher she was selling in an online classified ad. The sender told the woman to cash the money orders, deposit the money in her bank account, keep an extra $100 as a bonus, then wire the remaining money back to the buyer through Money Gram.
The woman did not follow the instructions, and reported the scam to the Utah Division of Consumer Protection. Giani said the woman knew the money order was fake because some of the words were printed backwards and the face on the money order was winking.
"We get a lot of people who fall for this," she said. "First of all, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Who is really going to send you all that money? That just doesn't smell right. A red flag goes up."
Had the woman cashed the money orders and wired the money back to the buyer, she would have eventually had to pay back the $1,900 when the bank discovered the money orders were fraudulent.
Giani encouraged the public to call the Division of Consumer Protection at (801) 530-6601 to ask questions if a situation seems fishy.
or feels like a scam. She said because many scams originate out-of-state or out of the country, the only action they can take is to educate people to help them determine if they are being scammed.
Another common scam that Giani said many fall for is people receiving fake checks from sweepstakes winnings.
"The first question to ask is, 'Did I enter a sweepstakes?' " she said. "That should be your first clue. Is the check legitimate? A lot of this is just common sense, we just don't think through all of that."
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