LEWISTON – Police really hate to repeat themselves but they’re going to do it anyway: if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

A trio of new scams spreading across the Internet have fleeced at least two local people out of thousands of dollars.

A woman in Greene is out roughly $10,000 after turning over personal bank account information to someone she met in a religious chat room.

A man in Lewiston accepted a check for thousands of dollars and then sent along an item he had sold in an online auction. The check was bogus.

Investigators fear others are vulnerable to a different online scam appearing out of Russia. In that one, a letter writer claims to be the son of a powerful politician who fell from office during recent political strife.

The writer claims to have a large amount of money that needs to be shipped to the United States. A potential victim is promised a percentage of the money in exchange for bank account information that will allow the funds to be transferred.

It’s a scam local and federal investigators are very familiar with. For years, a similar scheme was being operated out of Nigeria, through the postal service and over the Internet. Around the world, victims who fell for the Nigerian scam have been rooked out of millions of dollars. Several people from Lewiston and Auburn are among them.

The organizers of the Russian scam are striving to appear more legitimate, Rioux said. Instead of promising millions of dollars, they might list a lower, more realistic number.

The scam targeting online religious Web sites appear to originate out of Africa and Guam, investigators said. This one exploits the trust of devout worshippers looking to share their faith with others.

A person in an online discussion will claim to be of the same religious persuasion as others in the chat group, investigators said. A single person in the group will be targeted by the scam operator and a religious discussion follows.

Then comes the pitch: the scam operator claims to be trapped in a foreign country, under duress because of their religious beliefs. All they need to escape to the United States, the schemer insists, is money for travel.

The woman in Greene fell for that particular scam, police said. She wanted to help a fellow worshipper flee from a dangerous situation.

“She actually sent the person her bank account number and then sent a check on top of that,” Rioux said. “She got hit pretty hard.”

Investigators are particularly concerned that more people will fall for the religious scam while sharing their faith with others in online discussion groups.

“They want to do good, but they’re getting fleeced,” Rioux said.

The bogus check scam, which appears to be operated out of Africa, targets online shoppers who use Internet sales or auction sites such as e-Bay. The scam artist agrees to buy a high-priced item such as gems or antiques and then sends along a check.

“It looks like a real cashiers check,” Rioux said. “So the seller ships along the item and finds out the check was counterfeit.”

The item that was sold is gone.

Police advise that online sellers wait until a check clears the bank before shipping off the item being sold.

For two years, the Maine Computer Crimes Task Force has used a Drop a Dime on Cyber Crime program where local people can report the latest schemes or suspected schemes. Recently, the task force has joined up with federal investigators from the National White Collar Crime Center.

Now, all local schemes or suspected scams being reported through the local Web site will also be entered into a national database.

“That’s really helping a lot,” Rioux said.

The Maine Computer Crimes Task Force Web site may be accessed at http://www.mcctf.org/

mlaflamme@sunjournal.com

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