News and Tribune

Most Wanted

Discussion

Add a comment on this story
November 11, 2009

Tutors targeted in want-ad scam

Evening News, Tribune pulled ad from newspapers Nov. 1

By MATT THACKER

A want-ad that ran on the classified page of The Evening News and The Tribune has been reported to be a scam, according to investigators from the Floyd County Sheriff’s Department.

The advertisement, which begins “TUTORS NEEDED,” states that a person is seeking a tutor for a 12-year-old boy to provide an hour of instruction in several subjects three days a week. The advertisement states that the tutor will be paid $50 per hour and directs the reader to the e-mail cowaltls@aol.com.

The sheriff’s department received a report from someone who said the person she e-mailed from the ad was trying to scam her out of money. Police say the scam artist claims to be from overseas and says he is seeking a tutor for his son, daughter or nephew who will be visiting the United States.

After exchanging several e-mails, he may ask for the tutor’s phone number and mailing address. He then sends the tutor a cashier’s check worth much more than the tutor fee, often claiming the excess funds are to be used as payment for a nanny. The tutor is instructed to cash the check and wire money to the “nanny.”

The cashier’s check is fake, but realistic enough to be accepted by the bank. By the time the check is revealed to be phony, the prospective tutor has already sent the money to the perpetrator of the scam. It is returned against the tutor’s account. The advertisement ran in The Evening News and The Tribune from Oct. 24 through Nov. 1. Similar postings have been popular in newspapers across the country and on www.craigslist.org.

Jim Grahn, publisher of The Evening News, said the newspaper called the phone number provided with the ad and spoke to a person who confirmed its content. He said the advertisement was pulled as soon as suspicions arose.

“We do our best to vet every ad that appears, in any way, to be suspicious,” Grahn said. “If there is any doubt about an ad, we will not run it, or if it makes its way into the paper, we will take it out until we can make sure it is legitimate.”

Anyone targeted by a check overpayment scam should file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission at www.ftc.gov or by calling 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357).



Letters from federal agencies may be fake

Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller warned this week about a phishing scam in which requests for personal information are sent out from people pretending to be from federal agencies, including the Internal Revenue Service, Social Security Administration, Medicare, Medicaid and the Census Bureau.

Hoosiers are receiving calls, e-mail and letters that appear to be official requests from these agencies seeking Social Security numbers, birth dates and account numbers.

Other scam artists are sending requests purporting to be from federal authorities stating that money needs to be returned because of an overpayment. Anyone with concerns about the legitimacy of a request is advised to call a trusted phone number and not one provided in an e-mail, letter or phone call.

Text Only | Photo Reprints
Most Wanted