Uncategorized 05 Apr 2006 10:31 am
Fooled!
Apparently some benevolent soul decided to play a cruel (and very illegal) April Fools joke on the residents of my apartment complex. They placed a “temporary” night drop box on top of the regular night drop box which sits right outside the leasing office, had a little placard on it stating what it was and even went so far as to tape up the opening of the regular night drop box and post a letter with the complex’s letterhead explaining what the box was for on the office door right next to it explaining “please use the new box for the time being blah blah blah.” Now, being the trusting person that I am, I figured “oh okay, there’s probably something wrong with the lock on the regular box and they don’t want everyone’s rent checks to be sitting in an unlocked box, and went ahead and dropped my rent check in.
So, on Monday I come home from work, ready to walk over to the light rail to get downtown to the Astros game and I see a letter from my apartment complex stuck in the door. Normally it’s not that big of a deal, it’s just stuff like “we’re going to be replacing smoke alarm batteries” or “someone left some trash somewhere, don’t do that” or, well .. you get the point. So I grab the letter, get inside to drop my stuff off, and read it. I was pretty disgusted to find out that in fact I had just deposited my rent check to a box that some hooligan put in place and has since walked off with. But I was also resigned to the fact that at that point I might as well just go to the game and deal with the situation when I got back because nothing was going to change in the next few hours.
After walking home from the game I dropped an email to the apartment manager letting them know that I was one of the folks who put their check in the drop faux. She actually e-mailed back relatively quickly letting me know the police incident report and the number to call (which turned out to be wrong by one number, but that’s beside the point). So, I went to look and see if the check had already been posted and, of course, it had. Naturally I put my internet detective hat on and figured “hey, once they give me the image of the check that was cashed I can give HPD the account number.” So, since that went up this morning I called HPD and gave them the info and now whoever did it is (hopefully) screwed. I figure they’ve got to at least have provided some credentials to create the account and probably have been on camera at some point.
In the meantime, here’s what I cooked up as an artist’s rendering of the thief:
If you’ve seen this man (that’s a Cubs hat, by the way, because screw the Cubs), please contact HPD immediately!
Update, here’s the crime scene as rendered by a different artist:
13 Responses to “Fooled!”
on 05 Apr 2006 at 11:33 am 1.ndegruchy said …
That picture will soon turn into this: http://nowtowns.com/media/photo/16943-5670-sadpanda_thumb_large.jpg
on 05 Apr 2006 at 11:37 am 2.Brett said …
Now that’s what I call ‘total weaksauce’.
on 05 Apr 2006 at 3:14 pm 3.Meglet said …
Hey, I like what you’ve done with the comments and the scrolling elimination. Did you draw that yourself? I have never seen you draw anything, except a blank when I ask you a question about our romantic history together;)
on 05 Apr 2006 at 3:16 pm 4.ddipaolo said …
Yes, I drew it. And colored it too. Come to think of it, I should have posted something to the SA forums and had them MSPaint it. Maybe I will….
on 05 Apr 2006 at 4:08 pm 5.Meglet said …
I think you should. Hopefully it wont get GASSED!
on 05 Apr 2006 at 4:10 pm 6.ddipaolo said …
Already done, see here.
That’s where the “crime scene” drawing came from.
on 05 Apr 2006 at 4:11 pm 7.Pens said …
Sweet scam. I should try that.
Though, how on earth will I cash the checks???
on 05 Apr 2006 at 4:13 pm 8.ddipaolo said …
This dude just opened an account with the same name as my apartment complex, apparently. At a different bank. Is it really that simple?
How do I frauded checks
on 06 Apr 2006 at 8:44 am 9.ndegruchy said …
more like: “How do I screw myself?”
on 06 Apr 2006 at 12:00 pm 10.Meglet said …
Did the bank not think “Hmm, Post Midtown, that’s an interesting name, is it German?” It should not be easy for one dude to open up an account that is clearly for “business”. What bank was it anyways? Please don’t let it be Chase.
on 06 Apr 2006 at 1:00 pm 11.ddipaolo said …
The winner is ….
Bank of America
Though who’s to say he didn’t go through a lot of trouble to set up a fraudulent business just for this? Granted, it would have been easily foiled if one of the Post employees had simply walked by the leasing office during the off hours (and since at least a few of them actually live in the complex, it’s not that far-fetched), but that doesn’t mean that the risk wasn’t worth the reward. From when I spoke with the police it sounded like at least a few dozen folks had this happen to them, so … if you figure between $600-1200 per check times 30 folks, that’s over $20k.
on 06 Apr 2006 at 5:48 pm 12.MaryT said …
Dude, did he not see Catch Me If You Can? You might not lose right away, but once you start committing check fraud, you are major f-ed. That said, it would have been a pretty good April Fool’s prank if the guy hadn’t actually posted the checks, but just taken them and shredded them or something. I mean, it’s not something I would do because I don’t want to be eaten by the temp drop-box as illustrated here, but not a terrible idea.
P.S. Pens did it. (the fraud thing at Post Midtown–don’t tell him I told)
on 09 Apr 2006 at 8:38 am 13.Noonan said …
Wow. I am so sorry that this happened to you. It is a horrible pain in your bootie. But, the re-telling was a true delight, I have to tell you.
I am glad they didn’t wash the check for more $$. You know, Texas is one of the few states where you are allowed to add a preventive fraud alert to your credit report. That wouldn’t be a bad idea for you. I had a check stolen from me as a young person in Texas, and those people perpetrated lotsa fraud from just that one check. A bad credit deal, all around.
Sincerely, Noonan