VAN NUYS : Merchants Warned About Check Scams

An increase in San Fernando Valley crime rings specializing in credit card and check fraud has prompted police to warn area merchants to take extra precautions in dealing with such transactions.

At a meeting of the Sepulveda Business Watch in Van Nuys on Wednesday, Officer Russ Young of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Valley Forgery Section said the crime rings are the biggest problem facing his office today.

“We’re talking thousands of dollars in forged checks that go out to supermarkets and small businesses,” Young said. “This month alone we’ve had seven arrests on credit card fraud and four on check fraud. Eight days (in July) and we have 11 arrests already.”

The rings run the check scam by scrounging for discarded checks in garbage cans behind banks and businesses at night, altering the checks at copy centers or shops set up in motels and then using false identification to cash the checks with unsuspecting merchants.

Credit card fraud is accomplished by stealing the cards and then putting new numbers on them, Young said.

However, merchants can counter the counterfeiters in several ways. Young suggested that businesses destroy old checks and credit card invoices, refuse to accept postdated checks, and report bad checks to police.