Triangle Troubleshooter: Banking scam hits many besides me

It turns out I'm not alone in getting scammed at the bank.

Lots of folks contacted me this week that they too had a scammer recently deposit fake checks into their bank accounts with deposit slips, then took cash back from each transaction. The bank then deducted the money from the accounts, but refunded it when they learned of the fraud.

Most of the cases are in Cary. In fact, Cary police say that since October, they've had about 20 reports of this exact scam.

Detective James Grier in Cary's financial crime unit says scammers know tellers don't ask for ID when withdrawing less than $100 with an account deposit slip. They also know that a lot of banks don't have security cameras on the outside drive-thru lanes. Grier said he's checked, and there are no pictures of these guys. (A Raleigh detective says Bank of America still has not produced photos of the transactions involving my account.)

It's probably a group of people, Grier said. Two years ago, area police arrested the "Felony Lane Gang," dubbed that because they wrote checks off stolen checkbooks using the outside drive-thru lane.

Grier said he hopes to get lucky with this group from an alert teller who notices the fake check and gets a license plate.

In addition, Cary police are offering a reward to anyone with information on these scammers. Call Cary Crime Stoppers at 919-226-2746.

Bill Emory of Cary fell victim to this scam and called me, saying he never uses deposit slips. But he did take a bag of account information to his Bank of America branch in Cary to be shredded.

He wonders whether someone got his information before it was shredded.

Ned Rhame of Apex learned that three fake checks were deposited into his Wachovia account when the owner of a concrete business called, accusing Rhame of stealing money. But really the scammer used the concrete guy's name on the fake check.

I asked Bank of America and Wachovia why banks don't ask for ID for withdrawals under $100 and why no cameras are in the last drive-thru lane - simple solutions that would stop this crime, it seems to me.

Neither would really comment. Both said they protect customers against fraud and work with police when it does occur. They wouldn't confirm or deny the lack of cameras in the outside lane.

"Providing specifics on our policies may act as a catalyst for those who intend to commit fraud," Nicole Nastacie, a Bank of America spokeswoman, said in an e-mail message.

(Psssst, I think the scammers already know.)

Several readers suggested I open an account with a credit union. I called State Employees' Credit Union, where Leigh Brady, a senior vice president, said the credit union has security cameras in all drive-thru lanes and a "member picture ID program": Photos are put on debit cards that customers must produce for transactions. In addition, she said, the customer's photo shows up on the teller's computer.

If customers suspect fraud activity on accounts, Brady said, they can review video of the transaction with a staff person.

Here's what I propose: Let's call our banks and ask them to change their policies.

Tell them we'll gladly hand over our IDs no matter how much money we're withdrawing from a teller. (After all, we take our shoes off at airports to prevent crime.) And put cameras in all drive-thru lanes.

If you do this, tell me the response.

Craigslist follow-up

Craigslist still has not responded to my request to block my home from being listed for rent on its site. In fact, this week, "Kat" hung up on me when I called.

Last week, I wrote about a scammer who has put my house on that site, saying it was for rent and telling people to drive by. If they liked it, they were to wire the first month's rent, and he would mail the keys.

But most readers weren't interested in the scam, and instead wanted to know whether the guy really urinated in my yard after I told him the house was not for rent. I'm not creative enough to have made this up.

But here's the best part: When I demanded that the officer ticket him (I got the guy's license plate), he told me it's not illegal to urinate in public unless it's on city property.

Of course, the man could be charged with indecent exposure, so Troubleshooter advises you not to celebrate in absence of a law.

Dear readers, what do you think of this? Should the law be changed? I'll take a poll, and if yes, I'll share the results with city officials.