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Trine University Warns of Fraudulent Check Scam
By: James Tew & Colin Meadowcroft - Wednesday, February 10, 2021

Trine University is warning consumers of a scam involving fraudulent checks that appear to be from the university.

Trine has received reports from around the United States of people receiving and attempting to cash the fraudulent checks, most of which are connected to an online sale. The perpetrator will send a fraudulent Trine check made out for an amount greater than the total sale, and ask the seller to deposit the check and send the excess money back.

The university began getting reports around the Christmas holiday. While most have been from outside northeast Indiana, one fraudulent check was recently presented at the Fifth Third Bank branch in Angola.

52 of the fraudulent checks have been cashed or deposited. The university has protection against being charged for the checks, but unfortunately, that leaves scam victims on the hook. According to the BBB, frauds employing fake checks are growing rapidly and cost billions of dollars, with the number of complaints more than doubling between 2014 and 2017. Fake checks were involved in 7 percent of all complaints filed with BBB Scam Tracker.

For more information on fake check scams, visit bbb.org/fakecheckscam. Scams can be reported to the BBB at BBB.org/scamtracker or by calling (800) 552-4631.



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