Community Corner
Police: Homeless Man Promised Money to Cash Bogus Check in Bloomfield Hills
The Bloomfield Hills Department of Public Safety provided this information. Arrests, where they are mentioned, do not indicate conviction.
Officers with the Bloomfield Hills Department of Public Safety arrested a homeless man who tried to cash a bogus check at a bank in the city on Wednesday, reports said.
Police responded to the bank in the 39000 block of Woodward Avenue at about 11:40 a.m., after employees prevented the man from cashing a check that appeared suspicious. Chief Rick Matott said an internal security bulletin issued through the bank that day alerted employees to fraudulent checks passed at other branches. The bad checks were linked to the same account.
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Matott said officers arrested the 30-year-old man without incident, and that he told investigators two unknown women picked him up in Detroit and promised him $50 to cash the check. He was taken to the Oakland County Jail and remained there Friday on pending warrants from authorities in Bloomfield Hills, Roseville and Crawford County, Matott said.
The women left the bank parking lot before police arrived, and no physical descriptions were available, according to reports.
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Identity-Related Frauds
Officers investigated two unrelated cases of identity theft and attempted fraud during the past week.
- A resident of the 40000 block of Woodward Avenue told police on Feb. 15 he received an e-mail from a friend in the Philippines that indicated he needed $1,750 wired to him in order to get home, reports said. The resident recognized the attempt as a popular scam circulating the Internet and did not send any money. The report was for information purposes only.
- A resident in the 39000 block of Woodward Avenue reported that was denied a loan recently because of a bogus item on his credit report. He investigated, and discovered that someone used a legitimate business account to charge more than $900 in unauthorized purchases in New York in 2006, reports stated. The bills were never paid.
For questions about this blotter, email Art.Aisner@Patch.com.
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