BEVERLY — This time, the check really was in the mail.
It had Jane Luangrath's name and address on it and was made out for an eye-catching amount: $2,800.
"Congratulations!!!" read the letter from the Customer Service Survey Group Inc. of Ontario, Canada. "You have been chosen to represent our company as a secret shopper."
Luangrath was told to shop at Wal-Mart and J.C. Penney, then fill out a survey and rate the shopping experience. Her orders were to deposit the check, then wire $2,250 back to the survey group and keep $225 as payment for her work.
"I knew right away," said Luangrath, who never deposited the check and reported the letter to Beverly police.
A few days earlier, a similar, real-looking check for $4,000 arrived in Lisa Cicchetti's mailbox in Beverly with similar instructions.
Cicchetti, according to the letter, had won an African lottery and was owed $800,000 — all she had to do was wire about $3,200 to cover a delivery charge and other fees. A few days later, she received a follow-up e-mail wondering why she hadn't yet claimed her winnings.
"As far as I could tell, it looked like a real check," said Cicchetti, who turned it over to Bank of America, which told her the account was real, but that checks couldn't be drawn on it.
Like Luangrath and Cicchetti, most people are likely to dismiss the checks and "special offers" as scams and either shred them or report them to police.
But others desperate for extra income — particularly in this time of foreclosures and rising prices — may find the offers to good to resist.
"People just have to be mindful and aware that there are people that will take their money from them in a scam," said Beverly police spokesman John McCarthy.
Lately, scam artists have been using Web sites like Craigslist to target potential victims, said Salem police Lt. Conrad Prosniewski.
In one case, an online seller from Salem nearly fell victim to a scam. A buyer offered him money for the boat he was selling, then asked him to wire a portion of the check to a Canadian company to pay for transporting the boat from Salem to a marina in Canada. He contacted police, who told him it was a scam.
All the cases seem to follow a similar pattern. The scam artist wants the victim to deposit a check, then immediately wire a lesser amount, usually to a foreign company. By the time their bank determines the scam artist's check is fraudulent, the victim has been ripped off and usually is out thousands of dollars.
The scams on Craigslist are sometimes easy to fall for because the victim is expecting offers from third parties, unlike the other types of offers that seem to come out of the blue.
"Sometimes people are so happy they're making a sale, they put blinders on," Prosniewski said.
Beverly police have posted a series of fraud-prevention tips on their Web site, www.beverlypd.org.
Police suggest watching out for high-pressure tactics or offers where you have to pay up front to receive your prize. Be skeptical of anyone asking you to wire money into a bank account or to cash money orders or checks on their behalf. And beware if the offer is from an unfamiliar company without a street address or phone number, or one that offers a cash-only deal.
If you suspect you're receiving a potential scam by phone, just hang up, police say. Never give out your credit card number, Social Security number or any other personal information over the phone or e-mail unless you trust the company.
Most of all, if the offer sounds too go to be true, it probably is, police said.
"The bottom line is if you get a check from somebody you don't know," Prosniewski said, "wait for the check to clear first."
Staff writer Chris Cassidy can be reached at 978-338-2526 or by e-mail at ccassidy@salemnews.com.
