Mag Strittmatter was wondering where the “hook” was to the obviously “cruel holiday gift” that arrived in the mail at the Jeffco Action Center last Tuesday.
Strittmatter, executive director of the center, received the gift – an obviously bogus $40,000 check with a photocopied signature on the check – last Tuesday.
Strittmatter said Monday that the “hook” arrived in the form of an email on Friday.
In it, the purported sender of the check, an individual posing as a Hong Kong businessman, said that his personal assistant had made a “terrible mistake” and sent $40,000 rather than the $10,000 he instructed.
The email asked that the Jeffco Action Center send $30,000 to a “Heart Foundation” in the Asia. He said he would be sending further instructions on how to send the $30,000 to the heart foundation.
The email included a San Diego telephone where the man said the Jeffco Action Center could reach him.
A person answering that phone Monday hung up when informed that the matter had been turned over by Strittmatter to the FBI and the Colorado Attorney General.
Strittmatter said Monday that the scam artists had hijacked the UPS account of a legitimate Idaho businessman and using his account sent out approximately 300 similar solicitations across the United states.
The Idaho businessman has asked UPS to freeze that account.
The Jeffco Action Center helps thousands of impoverished individuals and families each year.
In the past 2-1/2 years, the JAC has served 57,000 unduplicated clients seeking shelter, food, clothing and help with utility payments.
In the email that Strittmatter received Friday, the individual said he was in California on business and once he was done there, he’d love to come to Colorado “to learn more about your organization.”
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com
