According to a recent Dakota County Criminal Complaint, an Eden Prairie man swindled nearly $1500 out of a total of eleven strangers by convincing them to cash ATM deposit envelopes for him for a small cash return. Only later did these strangers realize the ATM deposits envelopes did not contain the cash the man said they did.
From the complaint:
On July 13, 2011, Burnsville police received a fraud report. Through investigation it was learned that on July 1, 2011, a male, later identified as Baker Tababouanga Albert, approached J.T. while he was at the Burnsville Center, Burnsville, Dakota County, Minnesota. Albert asked J.T. to cash a check for him worth $193.00 and that he would pay J.T. $33 for cashing the check. J.T. stated that they went to the ATM and deposited the check into J.T.’s account and withdrew $160.00 which J.T. gave to Albert. J.T. later learned that the envelope that Albert pulled out of his pocket did not contain the check when Albert put it into the ATM for the deposit.
[...]
Following a Miranda warning Albert admitted that he asked people to deposit checks for him. Albert also admitted that the envelopes were empty and that the victims didn’t know that the check was not inside the envelope. Albert stated that he wanted to pay the victims back.
Albert was able to swindle $1,460.00 from the victims in these transactions.
The complaint continues for the ten other people swindled in much the same manner. Lazy Lightning compiled the information contained in the complaint and created a table to summarize this information more clearly:
| Date | Cashed | Returned | Swindled |
| 7/13/2011 | $193 | $33 | $160 |
| 7/19/2011 | $209 | $30 | $100 |
| 7/21/2011 | $211 | $31 | $180 |
| 7/22/2011 | $209 | $35 | $100 |
| 7/28/2011 | $220 | $40 | $180 |
| 8/3/2011 | $231 | N/A | $100 |
| 8/5/2011 | $220 | N/A | $220 |
| 8/7/2011 | $221 | $30 | $100 |
| 8/9/2011 | $221 | N/A | $100 |
| 8/9/2011 | $364 | N/A | $200 |
| 8/26/2011 | $231 | $31 | $100 |
* – Total ($1,540) does not match $1,460 as quoted in the Complaint.
The big question here is a simple and obvious one: if a stranger approached you and offered you $30 to $40 would you agree to cash a check for them at your ATM? Wouldn’t you be uncomfortable that you’d be robbed on the spot more than after-the-fact? Do you use your ATM to make bank deposits? Whatever you have to say about this one go ahead and comment on as I’d love to hear what you have to say about this one.
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December 2nd, 2011 at 7:33 am
Wow… people are stupid. Even absent feeling immediately threatened or like this guy may not be handing you an empty envelope, why would you assume the check you are cashing is good? People will probably not get their money back. I hate to sound mean about it, but maybe any victim that truely submitted to this scam voluntarily should just chalk the $100 to $220 loss as a stupidity tax and move on.
December 2nd, 2011 at 7:40 am
It never fails to amaze me how gullible and stupid some people are. So these victims never asked for any proof that there was a check in the envelope? Smarter people who said no to this never bothered to tell mall security? Really?
This guy must have been very slick to pull this off as long as he did.
December 2nd, 2011 at 7:44 am
The link to the Dakota county criminal complaint is broken (tried it on 2 browsers).
December 2nd, 2011 at 7:46 am
Thanks n52, fixed.
December 2nd, 2011 at 7:53 am
I find it funny that people (whether they were pressured into it or thought they could make a quick buck) fall for this scam that is as least as old as spam in your inbox. This scam sounds a lot like a time I was emailed by a Nigerian Prince that wanted me to cash a check for him and he would allow me to keep 10% of the money………..
December 2nd, 2011 at 8:11 am
I agree with all of you. Unless this scam is perpetrated on elderly and/or mentally disabled people, it should not be a crime. This guy is out there teaching life lessons to doofuses.
December 2nd, 2011 at 8:13 am
I would normally just say no and move on. After reading this story, I am thinking the best response would be not only to say no but to immediately call the cops.
December 2nd, 2011 at 9:07 am
there’s one born every minute.
bb
December 2nd, 2011 at 9:28 am
Clearly this is why banks are going to envelope free ATMs – too many people were being duped by this guy. I actually love the new feature – half the time I’d go to make a deposit there would be no envelopes or they would be ruined from rain.
https://www.wellsfargo.com/atm/envelopefree
December 2nd, 2011 at 9:31 am
Idiots. That they don’t even have to put a fake check in the envelope is amazing.
December 2nd, 2011 at 9:42 am
There’s a giant rainbow lollipop born every minute?
December 2nd, 2011 at 10:21 am
Wow, I guess I would assume that the check would bounce, even absent any other red flags.
December 2nd, 2011 at 11:17 am
sucker, sucker:)
bb
December 2nd, 2011 at 11:24 am
What I wonder about are the number of people who were swindled between 8/9 and 8/26 that didn’t report it. I highly doubt he just gave it up during that time.
December 2nd, 2011 at 11:32 am
Its hard to believe anyone could fall for that fraudster’s scheme. He must have had one epic story made up and talked it good.
December 2nd, 2011 at 12:10 pm
The way money changes electronically now, checks should just be flat out removed as they are such an easy source for fraud. In the end you always have to be smart with anything involving your bank account.
https://squareup.com/ has saved many lunches with co-workers (especially when the staff can’t split a check). Outside of a couple of Archean utility providers we don’t right checks in our house at all.
December 2nd, 2011 at 12:26 pm
I just googled this guy out of curiousity – looks like he can’t even go 6 months without breaking laws. Zero credibility on “wanting to pay people back:”
http://www.shakopeenews.com/view/full_story/13925038/article-Police-make-quick-arrests-in-First-Avenue-car-thefts-
December 2nd, 2011 at 3:29 pm
Absolutely not!!
December 2nd, 2011 at 6:14 pm
I don’t trust ATM’s to make deposits, not even the machine sitting outside the bank. I only will deposit with a teller. Seen too many mistakes with paperwork in my days. Now that the scan them, maybe. Most of my deposits are the automatic type.
There are enough check cashing places around town that I’d never let someone use my account to move funds around. Too many red flags popping up. Even if they show me a check, and it looks perfect, even got a holograph on it, I wouldn’t trust it. Too easy to fake that stuff. I won’t even give folks I don’t know change for anything over a $10. fake currency is too easy for the motivated and I have no interest in changing their funny money into real.
December 2nd, 2011 at 7:18 pm
I have removed a comment for what I deemed to be inappropriate content.
December 2nd, 2011 at 8:31 pm
Boooooo.
December 3rd, 2011 at 10:12 am
Are you serious? I’m from Iowa and people in Minnesota say we are a little slow. Where has common sense gone? I work downtown and I get at least one person a week that asks if they can borrow money for the bus but do I give it to them? Absolutely not because I know people are not honest anymore and you can not trust anyone and why in the world would you not open the envelope while he was standing there???
I’m really disappointed by the lack of common sense by people anymore.
December 3rd, 2011 at 1:23 pm
I am also surprised that so many people would deposit the check. I would have told the guy of the nearest check cashing place I knew of and been done with it. I suppose it’s a good thing that there are still some trusting people out there who don’t assume the worst of everyone, but nonetheless, one has to be more careful than these people were.
I’ve deposited money in ATMs before when going to a teller wasn’t convenient but I’ve always been careful about which ones I’ve used, and never really big sums of money. Never had any issues, though it’s not something I do if I have other good options.
January 25th, 2012 at 9:58 am
[...] sui generis’ ‘stupidity tax’. [10 [...]