MARCO ISLAND, Fla. - A new scam is taking people hoping for easy money, for thousands of dollars.

Not only is this scam effecting people in Southwest Florida, Marco Community Bank is listed as the name of the bank on these fake checks being sent out to thousands across the country.

Free money to go shopping... And rate your experience... as a "secret shopper." Sounds pretty good, right? That's what Miami resident Maribell Royer thought, but became suspicious when she got a check in the mail for $4,820, being told to deposit it, spend some, and wire the rest back to Ontario based Consumers View Incorporated Shopping Business Solutions.

"The number on the check, when I called, they confirmed that the check was fine, it was a valid check," Maribell Royer says.

But it wasn't, and Royer found out the number for Marco Community Bank on the check was also bogus. She figured it out before it was too late.. but hundreds of others haven't.

Marco Community Bank has taken in more than 15-hundred of these fake checks in the last ten days... and the people depositing them are finding themselves out all that money.
It's not that these people are gullible, its that the scammers are pretty good.
"As a banker, you would be fooled by this check," Marco Community Bank Executive Vice President Tony Iannotta says.

The check looks like it was issued by Marco Community Bank, in Marco Island. It comes complete with the name, routing number, location, and even that phone number that seems real, but bank executives say its far from it.

"It had nothing to do with the bank. Its nothing more than someone taking the routing number from this bank, using this bank's name, and making their own cashier's check," Iannotta says.

That's leaving the people who deposited the bogus checks forced to cover them, all $48-hundred dollars, when they bounce.

Iannotta also says, if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is, and you should always check it out first.

"If you do receive a check with any bank's name on it, I would go to the website and verify the phone number," Iannotta says.

Marco Community Bank is not losing money here because they're returning the checks, rather than allowing them through.

They are helping with the investigation by reporting all calls they get to the federal authorities who are looking to track down these scam artists in Canada.

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