Man says he gave checks to girlfriend, who added zeros, taking him for $125,000

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.omaha.com/news/crime/man-says-he-gave-checks-to-girlfriend-who-added-zeros/article_b0787c42-d25f-11e4-a36d-bf0849e94519.html

POSTED: WEDNESDAY, MARCH 25, 2015 2:55 AM
By Kevin Cole / World-Herald staff writer

An Omaha man told police that a sometime girlfriend scammed him out of $125,000, and now she won’t return his phone calls.

The victim filed a report with the Omaha Police Department on March 10, a year after discovering he had been defrauded. He told police that the suspect, a Council Bluffs woman in her 30s, had promised to pay him back.

The 59-year-old victim told police that he wrote checks of $6,000 and $6,500 as gifts to a woman that he met in a bar and had dated “a couple of times.” He later learned that the amount of the checks had been changed to $60,000 and $65,000.

The woman has now blocked her telephone number and the victim is unsure of her exact address, the report said.

[winter is coming]

1. He didn't write the amount out in words as well as numbers?

[grasswire]

3. six thousand and no/100

guess he doesn't know to do that.

[GreatGazoo]

10. "six thousand" could be changed to "sixty" but "six thousand five hundred"

could not be changed to "sixty five thousand"

[Kalidurga]

2. A year later?

[lpbk2713]

4. Does he never check his bank statements?

They're probably still rolling on the floor at the police station over this one.

Police detective ... "So let me see if I've got this right. You met this lady in a bar and wrote her two checks totalling over twelve thousand dollars and now a year later you think there might be a problem because you're over a hundred thousand dollars in the hole and you haven't heard from her. Is that about it sir? Excuse me for a moment sir while I put you on hold." (Click) BWAHAHAHAHA (Click) "Hello sir, I'm back."

[tech3149]

5. Serously?

When you write a check for $6K to an "occasional" girlfriend you probably are doing it for reasons you didn't want to admit or you have so much scratch you pay someone to go over your finances.
Did you ever talk to the guys (mostly) who do vintage car racing? It's funny how they can turn a million dollar classic into just so much scrap metal and walk away saying "Oh Well I guess I did mess up a bit".

[Skittles]

6. he had $125,000 in a checking account?

[stone space]

27. He needs it. Even without the extra zero, he'll be broke after dates with 10 women. (nt)

[jwirr]

28. Some banks have a system to cover overdrafts. They just add the overdraft to your credit charges.

I hate the system.

[Quantess]

7. People still use checks?

[Oktober]

9. Older folks do...

I had to use one here in Africa the other day. I really had to think about the right way to write the thing out...

[Quantess]

13. I wrote my last check in 2011

And even then it was really old school.

[Nye Bevan]

16. You never have a plumber or electrician who wants a check?

Also my kids' schools are always wanting checks for field trips etc.

[KamaAina]

30. Or a landlord?

Mine have never heard of William Paid. In San Jose!

[ProfessorGAC]

14. I Still Use Them

And i use a debit card too. I'm not a luddite. I don't get why checks are old school.

[PasadenaTrudy]

24. I just made my tax payments

by check. The woman in Brooklyn that I'm renting a flat from for a week wants a check....I just paid an HVAC guy..with a check! So, yes!

[JI7]

8. maybe he is lying and is angry she left him and wants to get back at her

[NaturalHigh]

11. Now how on earth did you get that from the OP?

I mean that's getting into conspiracy theory territory there.

[kcr]

17. A year had gone by before he "discovered the money was missing"

It isn't a stretch to imagine there might be a motive behind this.

[JI7]

29. because the checks were from a year ago

[NaturalHigh]

12. Call me crazy...

but I can't see myself ever writing four-figure checks to a "sometime girlfriend" that I had "met in a bar and had dated a couple of times.”

[Phentex]

15. Well you know what they say about a fool and his money...

He doesn't sound too bright.

[NaturalHigh]

18. That they're soon partying?

[Phentex]

19. Ha!

Well the girl "friend" is having a good time!

[NaturalHigh]

20. She probably couldn't believe she found such a willing sucker.

I understand that P.T. Barnum was right about a sucker being born every minute, but the ones with money are usually not so easy to find.

[NCTraveler]

21. The 6500 dollar check would have had to undergone dramatic changes...

if he actually filled it out fully in the first place. The wording on a check is the legal amount. Not the numbers. It would take some serious effort to change the line from "sixty five hundred" or six thousand five hundred" to "sixty five thousand."

Tellers normally scrutinize checks of that size and it is always taken in the amount of the legal description. That is the written out wording of the dollar amount. Shouldn't be hard to prove fraud in this instance if this is the truth. He is also not without anything. He will have at the very least a digital copy.

[Orrex]

22. He filed his police report on March 10th, she claimed that he filed it on the 100th.

[FSogol]

26. March 100th? Is that from a metric calendar?

[LeftinOH]

23. He met her in a bar and they dated a 'couple of times'; thus,

she wasn't his "girlfriend". Rather, he was her mark - and she performed well. A fool and his money; in this case, an incredible fool.

[cyberswede]

25. Clearly I go to the wrong kind of bars. nt