The Town of Winamac was recently clued into an alleged attempt to commit a fraudulent transaction by a piece of returned mail.
During last night’s Winamac Town Council meeting, it was learned that the Town received mail containing a check that was considered undeliverable to the eastern portion of the U.S. The Town’s return address was used in the fraudulent check.
Winamac Town Clerk-Treasurer Melanie Berger spotted the discrepancy. She says that she alerted 1st Source Bank who detected fraud right away.
“I would assume anybody can make a check off of a computer by purchasing paper and making a check,” says Berger. “And that’s what it looked like, it looks like somebody just duplicated a check of ours somehow or another with the information.”
The previous account was closed, and a new civil checking account was opened to help prevent future attempts.
The Town would have been unable to detect the transaction until the books were balanced, though Berger says they review the account more regularly now than in past years.
She says she hopes this problem has been resolved.
“The bank is keeping an eye on our checking account, and we keep an eye on our checking account and just go forward from there,” says Berger.
No action is expected to be taken by the Winamac Town Council to ensure greater security in the future.
