TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) —Temple Terrace hairstylist and salon owner Phyllis Faber still pays many of her bills with an good old fashioned check. But now, she’s caught up in a “check cooking” scheme that has her rethinking that.
Faber says she hand-delivers her monthly payment for swimming pool maintenance via check to a nearby Pinch A Penny. Two weeks after she dropped off her check last month, she says her $170 check was stolen and the “1” was altered and changed to a “9.” The payee was changed from Pinch A Penny to a name she says she doesn’t recognize, and someone cashed the check at a Pinellas County Regions bank.
“There’s no evidence on the check of whiteout because you would see the little line around that,” Faber said.
Faber is the latest to call Better Call Behnken about crooks stealing their checks.
This week, Attorney General Ashley Moody issued a warning about a digital check manipulation scheme, in which the check is altered to create a counterfeit check. Moody says the criminal often gains access to the checks by stealing them from mailboxes.
So how was Faber’s check stolen?
The owner of the Pinch A Penny tells Consumer Investigator Shannon Behnken that she does not believe it was one of her employees and she’s cooperating with law enforcement.
She added that several customer checks are missing and one other was altered and cashed. She said the name on check was changed to the same name that appears on Faber’s check. Meanwhile, Faber is still waiting to get her money back from her bank, pending their investigation.
Temple Terrace police confirm there is an active criminal investigation and a spokesperson said there are no suspects at this time.
