Jason Walser knew the state was having financial trouble, but he wasn’t ready for what happened with his check from Rowan County.
It bounced.
In a county that just adopted a $93 million budget, a check for $10 — ten dollars — bounced.
Walser, a member of the Rowan Parks and Recreation Commission, gets $10 a month for his service.
Walser joins Rowan County as a victim of a scam that almost cost the county big bucks.
The county quickly closed a checking account at CCB when the bank discovered someone was trying to tap into the county’s cash.
“These people were real pros,” said Finance Director Leslie Earnhardt. “I would think it was a legitimate check.”
Instead of trying to create a facsimile of a Rowan County check, the scam used other checks and then changed the routing and account numbers on the bottom.
For example, one of the checks was a UPS payroll check which was cashed at a grocery store.
The routing numbers had been altered to the county’s account numbers.
A CCB employee saw the checks and realized something was wrong, and immediately notified the county.
Some supermarkets who took the checks absorbed the loss.
Earnhardt said the county did not lose a penny.
The county account was immediately closed and as a result some checks came back “account closed.”
The account was used primarily to pay vendors or similar expenses. A separate account is used for payroll.
Earnhardt said it would be relatively easy for someone to have gotten the county account numbers.
The finance department writes around 2,400 checks to vendors each month. Checks usually total $5 million a month.
Any one of the checks would carry the information needed for the scam.
Working with CCB, Earnhardt hopes they have found a way to prevent future scams. Checks will be issued in the same manner. But before the checks are sent out, a master list of all checks will be given to the bank.
All county checks will be matched against the list. If it’s not on the list, it won’t be paid.
And Walser will be getting a new check on the new account.
In a reverse check presentation this week, Walser gave his bounced check by to County Parks Director Jim Foltz, during a meeting of the Rowan Parks and Recreation Commission.
Contact Jessie Burchette at 704-797-4254 or e-mail jburchette@salisburypost.com
Today's News
