Laura Davis / The Roundup
A scam involving victimized students cashing about $80,000 in fraudulent checks for con artists has been reportedly taking place at Pierce College, Valley College and California State University, Northridge.
Detective Tammy Thomas from the Los Angeles Police Department said the scams have been going on since April and that a warning needs to be sent out to students immediately.
“Students are being approached or befriended by these individuals, saying they’re new to the area,” said Thomas. “They exchange phone numbers and basically build a trust in most cases.”
Well-dressed young men involved in the case make friends with students and then offer them an enticing job offer.
Students are then tricked into giving the scammers their full names and telling them which bank they use. The scammer thanks the student for their help and tells them they will have someone from their company call them for more information about the job description.
The ‘boss’ then calls the students and explains the job to them. The job turns out to be cashing checks for a fake employment agency that needs proof of hiring a large amount of new people.
Students were told they would receive several hundred dollars to simply cash a check for the employment agency under their own name. They then agreed to meet the scammers at their banks and cash a check that was written out to the student’s name.
“They will go to the bank, present a counterfeit check and the bank teller knows it’s a counterfeit check and they call the police and the student ends up getting arrested,” Thomas said.
One suspect is in custody and about 15 other suspects are undergoing further investigation. Branden Saighe, a 22-year-old male, was arrested for robbery, extortion, kidnapping and identify theft.
“Branden Saighe was on several crime reports with the students who didn’t go along with the scam and were forced to extortion, by saying he was going to harm them or their families and so the victim would go along with the program,” Thomas said.
All of the men involved used fake names and drove expensive rented cars to con the students into thinking their scam was legitimate.
Students were approached on campus, but the actual crimes took place at the students’ banks.
Detective Roberts from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department reported to have only known of the situation because someone from the LAPD enlightened him on the case.
“From what I understand, there have been several students that have been victims but it was all off-campus so that becomes the LAPD’s jurisdiction,” Roberts said.
A warning has been issued at both Valley College and CSUN, but not Pierce.
“They need to issue a warning now that we’ve identified them and have one of the main players,” Thomas said. “I doubt that we have the head person at this point, but like I said, my investigation is ongoing.”
Pierce Deputy Al Guerrero said the sheriff’s department is aware of this, but because it is a case for the LAPD, has not yet issued a warning.
“We try to be very diligent out there and try to be in the right areas at the right times,” he said. “A large amount of money has been taken. (Students) work hard for their money and then they have these guys trying to take advantage of them, so it’s pretty unfortunate.”
There are several ways students can protect themselves from scams similar to these that are still taking place.
“If you’re not applying for a job or filling out an application for a grant, and if it sounds too good to be true, than it probably is,” Thomas said. “You need to do your homework and verify these people, check on these people. There’s really no easy money out there – you need to work for it.”
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