Money order tampering case: Early Christmas gift arrives for 2 local victims of scam

Tuesday, December 23, 2008
By KATHY FAIRCHILD/Staff writer

The Grinch isn't stealing Christmas this year, at least not from Margery Parton and Donna Clutter of Marshall. Instead, Santa Claus, in the guise of AT&T, has already paid each of them a visit.

Parton and Clutter are two of three Marshall residents who reported in late November that they'd been the victims of what later turned out to be a national scam involving AT&T and a bank in Providence, R.I.

AT&T customers who paid their accounts with money orders in October and November discovered the money orders had never made it to the telephone company.

Instead, the payee was altered to read "RAT&TRAP," and the money orders then were cashed by an unknown person at RBS Citizens Bank in Providence.

Adding insult to injury, the victims were initially charged late fees by AT&T and as much as $40 to get copies of the money orders and for tracing the fraud by Moneygram International, the money order issuer.

Parton's daughter, Lynn Parton, said Monday, Dec. 22, that her mother received full credit on her most recent bill for the late fee, the fees to Moneygram and even for the additional $10 she'd paid to have copies of the money order enlarged.

Donna Clutter said, "I'm so glad -- I just hope they find the perpetrator. There are so many people who were hurt with this."

Customer service representative Leslie Collins of AT&T said the three cases here in Marshall are not the only ones they've seen.

The Marshall Democrat-News has heard from victims in Kalamazoo, Mich., and Marion, Ind.; AT&T has reimbursed those victims, too.

Citizen's Bank Vice President Mike Jones, director of media relations, was not available for comment, but said earlier this month that he would look into the situation.

The problem isn't entirely resolved, and it may take months for it to finally unravel, but at least for some victims, justice has been done.

Contact Kathy Fairchild at marshallhealth@socket.net

Comments

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Hopefully that rat gets trapped.

-- Posted by marshallmom67 on Tue, Dec 23, 2008, at 10:26 PM

Always more to the story...I received another email this evening regarding an altered money order to AT&T.

One thing money order users can do that will help prevent alteration of the "Pay To" line is to fill the line completely, from end to end, if the payee's name is very short. Just draw a wiggly line from the end of their name to the end of the line. Make big loops, little loops, whatever will fill that line and make it much more difficult to alter, while not obscuring the payee's name.

-- Posted by Kathy Fairchild on Tue, Dec 23, 2008, at 9:08 PM

Rat & Trap may have been mistaken for a clever name for an exterminator's company.

My bank called when my landscaper tried to cash a check I had given him for a big job that he had completed. He's Mexican so I think that was the trigger.

On the other hand, I noted that a check w/o a "pay to" line filled out, went through w/o question. It was to a utility company, so the check was probably mechanically removed from the envelope and tossed into the system.

Merry Christmas to all. Enjoy the food to your heart's content.

You can start counting calories on Friday!

-- Posted by upsedaisy on Tue, Dec 23, 2008, at 8:53 PM

Slater: That does seem odd, doesn't it? In order to cash a money order, the person presenting it must also present ID. If the money order is instead deposited in an account, that account would have to be named as "RAT&TRAP," so we're still at a loss to understand how it happened. I hope to hear from the VP of the bank after the holidays.

Buying the money orders at the post office wouldn't have made much difference in this situation, though, except maybe for the fees. Although in my story I said the money orders "never made it to AT&T," it would be clearer to say that they never made it to the AT&T account of the person who sent it. It's possible the money orders were diverted when they reached AT&T or even before that.

Local residents can take their money order to Patricia's grocery store here in town, which is a collection point for AT&T, which is what AT&T has suggested. They would then have a receipt, which the money order itself does not really provide. Money order forms used to contain a carbon copy, which captured the payee name - nowadays, they're a single sheet with a tear-off stub and a tracking number.

-- Posted by Kathy Fairchild on Tue, Dec 23, 2008, at 7:17 PM

It's hard to imagine that a bank employee would blithely process those money orders payable to RAT&TRAP.

I sure hope people will patronize the post office for future money order needs.

-- Posted by Slater on Tue, Dec 23, 2008, at 2:48 PM