African money order scam reaches Belize Postal Service

Early in the week, fake Belize Water Services and Telemedia cheques were popping up around the country. And tonight there is another scam to report, it is more complex, the true value is still unknown, but it is safe to say it is in the thousands of dollars. The Belize City post office has in its possession four thousand five hundred US dollars of postal money orders that are fraudulent but many more were destroyed by a customer earlier in the week after he found out they were fake. Officials from the post office spoke to the media today because three individuals have come forth after receiving anonymous and free money in the mail. Jose Sanchez has a report.

Jose Sanchez, Reporting
The Belize Postal Service has uncovered an international money order scam rooted in Africa but cultivated in the USA and Belize. Fake money orders in sums of five hundred US each were sent supposedly from one Edgar Dumigan of Illinois to at least three Belizeans. But the stamps show that the money orders actually originated from Lome’, a city in the African City of Togo. Three thousand dollars worth have been cashed before the Post office closed in on the scam. The wife of a man who cashed two of the money orders spoke to News Five off camera.

Victim of Togo Money Order Scam
“The mailman come Wednesday morning bout minutes to ten. When I si di envelope, ih mi look too funny. U just look pan it and I si di three African stamps dehn pan it. instant I text he and den he call me back and I open it and I ask ah you know dis person name cause di person name weh deh pan di cheque dah from Peoria, Illinois somewhere eena Chicago. He seh know. I be like yoh know what, dis look too funny fi be true cause dah mi seven cheques. Each one ah dehn dah fi five hundred US. Den I tell ah yoh know what, I wah call somebody. Di person might know more bout it. I all di person, di person seh yoh know what I wah come si yoh and den di person tell me yoh know what, wah person from F.I.U. seh ih wah come si yoh before Friday. Dat dah mi Wednesday morning. Up to todeh, di person from F.I.U. still noh reach yet. So Monday—di cheque deh yah whole weekend—so Monday night when he deh yah he tell me I gone and I cash two ah di cheques. I be like you di kid. Ih seh yes, ih seh he gone dah wah lady dah post office, di lady tell ah yes, di cheques dehn legit, go dah di cashier wah cash it. He gone to di cashier, di cashier gone dah back mussy to di supervisor and di cashier come dah front and tell ah sign di cheque and write yoh address and ih cash it. ih get two thousand dollars. Tuesday morning I think ih gone back wid di next five.”

Theresa Bradley, Finance Officer, Belize Postal Service
“The cashier said he looked at the customer and said I remembered this face and he also looked at the money orders and said these really look suspicious. He brought them up to me for me to verify them. I told him yes these money orders are fake. He said the customer was outside. So the customer came to see me and went to see the postmaster General and he told him that he has to pay back the money and he would give him until Friday to do so. He paid already one thousand dollars. He had cashed two thousand dollars out of the money orders. This incident also happened in Belmopan at the Belmopan post office, the officer cashed one.”

To ensure that this problem does not occur again, the Post office’s mail supervisor feels it is important for customers to recognize the security features of a legitimate money order.

James Gabriel, Mail Supervisor, Belize Postal Service
“One of the things to look out for is the watermark in the Postal Money Order itself of Benjamin Franklin. If you were to hold up one of those postal money orders itself you will see the watermark of Benjamin Franklin in the upper right hand corner of the postal money order. Another security feature that you can look for is the security thread. You will see a security thread being woven in and out of the postal money order and you need to be careful that it has the letters written clearly on that thread USPS, alright. Another point that you would want to ensure is that the dollar value of that money order is clearly written. No form of discoloration and those are some of the basic features that you can look for.”

On the fakes, the security thread is a blur and where you should see Benjamin Franklin, it is just a white oval space.

Theresa Bradley
“These money orders were immediately copied and faxed to St. Louis for verification of its authenticity. They were verified and the person called me back this morning and said they were indeed fake money orders.”

James Gabriel
“These people are lured by the way of the internet in telling them that they are being offered a job that they can do from their homes. In that case they are being offered a percentage of the proceeds from the money order and the balance is being sent to them. In the other scenario, it appears to be that they are gifted. Somehow these individuals go to a website on the internet and where gifts are being offered to them and the gift is by way of a money order they would receive in the mail and cash and keep the entire sum.”

Victim of Togo Money Order Scam
“Before Wednesday he never get wah email from anybody saying you cash it, you take so much and you send me back the rest. When I opened di envelope, not a return address, not even wah A, B or C inside pan di piece a paper weh come fi seh okay when yoh done cash it fi send it back. And up to todeh, noh even wah email fi seh okay, yoh done cash it send back money fi we, nothing, nothing, nothing like that.”

Theresa Bradley
“They target a lot of people I guess they get their background and know that they are in financial situations but these people are saying that they are innocent, that they told them they were going to send the money orders and they cash them and that was to help them with their financial situation.”

Jose Sanchez
“So it was definitely too good to be true.”

Victim of Togo Money Order Scam
“Exactly, too good to be true. From I see it I tell ah yoh know what, ih too good fi be true. Nobody noh just wah send you something like that. If unnu get anything like den yah, noh even bother cash it just ker it Post Office, hand it in to di Police Station cause all weh yoh wah do just pay it back just like we.”

Reporting for News Five, Jose Sanchez.

Theresa Bradley, the Post Office’s Financial Officer said that last year other people brought fraudulent documents that also originated from Togo. The individuals who cashed the cheques have made arrangements to repay the post office.