Florida business owner targeted by elaborate check-washing scheme

RAINFALL. THAT’S ALL COMING UP IN YOUR FORECAST. A MARTIN COUNTY BUSINESS OWNER IS SOUNDING THE ALARM. AFTER SEVERAL CHECKS, HE NEVER WROTE, WERE MAILED AND DEPOSIT NATIONWIDE. NOW HE BELIEVES HE’S THE VICTIM OF AN ELABORATE CHECK WASHING SCHEME. JADE JARVIS IS LIVE IN STUART WITH HIS STORY AND SOME TIPS ON HOW OTHER BUSINESS OWNERS CAN PROTECT THEMSELVES. JADE. WELL, FELICIA AND TIFFANY. STEVE DISMAY OWNS WILL FLOOR YOU HERE IN STUART. HE SAYS HE CHECKS HIS BANK ACCOUNT RELIGIOUSLY, SO THAT’S WHY WHEN HE SAW SOME FUNNY LOOKING CHECKS IN THE SYSTEM, HE TOOK CARE OF IT IMMEDIATELY. NOW HE IS SHARING HIS STORY SO OTHERS KNOW WHAT TO LOOK OUT FOR. WE SAW 2 OR 3 OF THESE A DAY AT, AND THEN WE STARTED RECEIVING A PHONE CALLS TO OUR COMPANY IN OUR JUPITER STORE. STEVE DESMET IS TALKING ABOUT THESE COUNTERFEIT CHECKS, EACH MADE OUT FOR NEARLY $5,000 OR MORE, STAMPED WITH HIS BUSINESS’S NAME, HIS BANK ACCOUNT, AND ROUTING NUMBERS, AND EVEN HIS SIGNATURE. BUT HE SAYS HE NEVER WROTE THEM. HEY, I RECEIVED A CHECK FROM YOU GUYS. IS IT ANY GOOD? AND THEN WE WOULD SAY, NO, THAT’S A FRAUD CHECK. AND THEN THEY WOULD HANG UP. THEN FINALLY A CLUE. ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE SENT TO SUBMIT THIS TEXT WITH INSTRUCTIONS FROM WHOEVER STOLE HIS INFORMATION AND USED IT TO SEND THOSE CHECKS OUT, DEPOSIT THE FULL AMOUNT. TAKE ABOUT HALF AS A GIFT, AND THEN PROVIDE THEIR BANK ACCOUNT DETAILS SO THE REST COULD SUPPOSEDLY BE GIVEN TO CHARITY. THAT’S THE BASIC PART OF THE SCHEME. AND SO WE’VE SEEN THIS HAPPEN OVER AND OVER. AND WE ALSO SAW IT HAPPEN TO SOME QUITE LARGE COMPANIES. AND THEY WERE KIND ENOUGH TO REACH OUT TO ME TO SAY THAT THEY HAD RECEIVED THESE CHECKS AS WELL. DE SMIT SAYS HE WAS ABLE TO PUT A BLOCK ON HIS ACCOUNT BEFORE ANY MONEY WAS STOLEN, BUT HE BELIEVES MOST OF THE FRAUDULENT CHECKS WERE UNFORTUNATELY DEPOSITED. LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIALS SAY BUSINESS OWNERS SHOULD CHECK THEIR ACCOUNTS REGULARLY AND CONSIDER USING ELECTRONIC PAYMENTS INSTEAD OF PAPER CHECKS. THEY CAN BE TRACKED DOWN IN REAL TIME, AS OPPOSED TO WONDERING WHERE THAT CHECK IS IN THE MAIL TRANSIT. ALSO, THEY CREATE A SERIES OF NUMBERS AND SEQUENCES IN THEIR IN TRANSACTIONS THAT ARE UNIQUE TO THAT PARTICULAR EXCHANGE, WHICH CAN NOW NOT BE WASHED LIKE A PAPER CHECK. DE SMIT SAYS HE DOESN’T KNOW HOW THESE SCAMMERS GOT AHOLD OF ONE OF HIS CHECKS, SINCE NONE OF HIS HAVE GONE MISSING, BUT HE WANTS OTHERS TO BE AWARE THAT IT COULD HAPPEN TO THEM, TO SMALL BUSINESSES TODAY ARE THE HEART OF THE COUNTRY. AND $4,950 OUT OF MY ACCOUNT, OR ANY OTHER BUSINESS ACCOUNT. SEVERAL TIMES IS A LOT OF MONEY. AND IF YOU CAN’T RECOUP THAT, HOW DO YOU RECOUP THAT MONEY? NOW THIS MATE GOT A TIP FROM ANOTHER BUSINESS THAT THIS SCAM IS ORIGINATING FROM A COMPANY OUT OF NEW YORK. WE DID CALL THAT COMPANY TO TRY TO GET SOME ANSWERS, BUT THEY HUNG UP

Martin County business owner targeted by elaborate check-washing scheme

A Martin County business owner is sounding the alarm after several checks he never wrote were mailed and deposited nationwide.Now, he believes he’s the victim of an elaborate check-washing scheme. Steve Desmit said he checks his bank account religiously, twice a day, so about three weeks ago, when he noticed some funny-looking checks in the system, he immediately took care of it.“We saw two or three of these a day. And then we started receiving phone calls to our company in our Jupiter store,” Desmit, the president of We’ll Floor U, a flooring store in Stuart, said.Desmit says several counterfeit checks, each made out for nearly $5,000 or more, were stamped with his business’s name, his bank account and routing numbers, and even his signature.But he insists he never wrote them.“’Hey, I received a check from you guys. Is it any good?’ And then we would say, ‘No, that’s a fraud check,’ and then they would hang up,” Desmit said.Then, finally, he received a clue. One of those people sent Desmit a text with instructions from whoever stole his information and used it to send those checks out.The instructions tell the recipient to deposit the full amount of the check, take about half as a gift, and then provide their bank account details so the rest could supposedly be given to charity. “That’s the basic part of the scheme. And so, we’ve seen this happen over and over. And we also saw it happen to some quite large companies. And they were kind enough to reach out to me to say that they had received these checks as well,” Desmit said.Desmit said he was able to put a block on his account before any money was stolen, but he believes most of the fraudulent checks were unfortunately deposited.Law enforcement officials said business owners should check their accounts regularly and consider using electronic payments instead of paper checks.“They can be tracked down in real-time as opposed to wondering where that check is in the mail transit. Also, they create a series of numbers and sequences and they’re in transactions that are unique to that particular exchange, which cannot not be washed like a paper check,” Capt. Ruben Romero with the Martin County Sheriff’s Office said.Desmit said he doesn’t know how these scammers got a hold of one of his checks since none of his have gone missing, but he wants others to be aware that it could happen to them, too.“Small businesses today are the heart of the country. And $4,950 out of my account or any other business account, several times is a lot of money, and if you can’t recoup that, how do you recoup that money?” Desmit said.He also would like banks to offer more help and protection to business owners in these situations.“There’s lots of things that go on in the banking system that are very surprising in terms of how you deposit checks electronically now, and that they only read the numerical part, pay to the order of so and so for, let’s say $3,000 and somebody changed that to $8,000. The ACH processing overnight reads that number. They don’t read the $3,000 that’s handwritten out. They are incapable of doing that, because it’s done by machinery and computers,” Desmit said. “So I think the banking system is really messed up and there’s a lot of small businesses. I’m sure that if news gets out, they’re all going to go, ‘I had this happen. I had that happen.’ We got to stop it because we have enough problems doing business today.”Desmit got a tip from another business affected by this scam that it’s originating from a company out of New York. WPBF 25 News called that company and spoke to a representative for answers, but they hung up the call.Stay up-to-date: The latest headlines and weather from WPBF 25Get the latest news updates with the WPBF 25 News app. You can download it here.

STUART, Fla. —

A Martin County business owner is sounding the alarm after several checks he never wrote were mailed and deposited nationwide.

Now, he believes he’s the victim of an elaborate check-washing scheme.

Steve Desmit said he checks his bank account religiously, twice a day, so about three weeks ago, when he noticed some funny-looking checks in the system, he immediately took care of it.

“We saw two or three of these a day. And then we started receiving phone calls to our company in our Jupiter store,” Desmit, the president of We’ll Floor U, a flooring store in Stuart, said.

Desmit says several counterfeit checks, each made out for nearly $5,000 or more, were stamped with his business’s name, his bank account and routing numbers, and even his signature.

But he insists he never wrote them.

“’Hey, I received a check from you guys. Is it any good?’ And then we would say, ‘No, that’s a fraud check,’ and then they would hang up,” Desmit said.

Then, finally, he received a clue.

One of those people sent Desmit a text with instructions from whoever stole his information and used it to send those checks out.

The instructions tell the recipient to deposit the full amount of the check, take about half as a gift, and then provide their bank account details so the rest could supposedly be given to charity.

“That’s the basic part of the scheme. And so, we’ve seen this happen over and over. And we also saw it happen to some quite large companies. And they were kind enough to reach out to me to say that they had received these checks as well,” Desmit said.

Desmit said he was able to put a block on his account before any money was stolen, but he believes most of the fraudulent checks were unfortunately deposited.

Law enforcement officials said business owners should check their accounts regularly and consider using electronic payments instead of paper checks.

“They can be tracked down in real-time as opposed to wondering where that check is in the mail transit. Also, they create a series of numbers and sequences and they’re in transactions that are unique to that particular exchange, which cannot not be washed like a paper check,” Capt. Ruben Romero with the Martin County Sheriff’s Office said.

Desmit said he doesn’t know how these scammers got a hold of one of his checks since none of his have gone missing, but he wants others to be aware that it could happen to them, too.

“Small businesses today are the heart of the country. And $4,950 out of my account or any other business account, several times is a lot of money, and if you can’t recoup that, how do you recoup that money?” Desmit said.

He also would like banks to offer more help and protection to business owners in these situations.

“There’s lots of things that go on in the banking system that are very surprising in terms of how you deposit checks electronically now, and that they only read the numerical part, pay to the order of so and so for, let’s say $3,000 and somebody changed that to $8,000. The ACH processing overnight reads that number. They don’t read the $3,000 that’s handwritten out. They are incapable of doing that, because it’s done by machinery and computers,” Desmit said. “So I think the banking system is really messed up and there’s a lot of small businesses. I’m sure that if news gets out, they’re all going to go, ‘I had this happen. I had that happen.’ We got to stop it because we have enough problems doing business today.”

Desmit got a tip from another business affected by this scam that it’s originating from a company out of New York. WPBF 25 News called that company and spoke to a representative for answers, but they hung up the call.

Stay up-to-date: The latest headlines and weather from WPBF 25

Get the latest news updates with the WPBF 25 News app. You can download it here.

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