Madison Co. Sheriff’s Office issues business alert regarding bad checks

JACKSON, Tenn. — Madison County Sheriff John Mehr has issued a business alert after recent incidents with bad checks.

“It’s so easy nowadays for people to abuse the business community during this time of the year,” Public Information Officer Tom Mapes said.

The holidays mean more shopping, but it’s also the time of year local retailers have to be on the lookout for scammers. Mapes said there has been an influx of complaints recently regarding bad checks.

“Lot of retailers won’t even accept checks anymore, and you can understand why, because it’s becoming such an issue and it’s so much loss,” Mapes said.

As folks are writing checks, officials urge business owners to get extra information during the transaction.

“The main thing regarding bad checks is to have the clerks make sure they get valid IDs like a driver’s license and photo ID, anything like that. Jot that down on the front of a check,” Mapes said.

Law enforcement officials say bad-check scams aren’t the only thing you need to be aware of this holiday season.

“In the last two or three days we’ve had a new incident come up,” Mapes said. “Every year it’s a different scam, and now there’s a phone scam going on where the person’s calling and they try to reach the elderly.”

The sheriff’s department said they’re finding a lot of young adults are the ones trying to scam. The say some try to impersonate family members, sometimes claiming they are calling on behalf of a grandson or granddaughter.

“The more information we can get, the better we can protect, because we want to recuperate the money and protect the business community as well,” Mapes said.

If you notice anything suspicious or are unsure if you’ve been a victim of a bad check, law enforcement officials say to contact their office so they can verify it for you.