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By NBC17, NBC17, 8 hours, 14 minutes ago
Updated: Aug. 28 12:08 pm

BENSON, N.C. -

Benson police report a bank in downtown Benson lost thousands of dollars when a group of men cashed 28 bogus checks written on a local construction firm's account.

Lt. Greg Percy said a group of about 35 men entered the BB&T Bank on Aug. 13 and presented checks averaging $400-$500 written on the Country Construction Company account. Tellers told police it was not unusual for people hired by the company to arrive at the same time, so they cashed most of the checks.

Tellers became suspicious when a man wearing a uniform entered the bank and five men ran out a side door without cashing their checks, according to police. The checks cashed also ended up overdrawing Country Construction's account.

Lt. Percy said the checks had legitimate bank routing and account numbers, so it would have been hard to detect that they were bogus. He added that the bank was assuming responsibility for checks written on the construction company account.

Lt. Percy said police have some leads and were using bank surveillance video to try to identify the suspects. He said he speculated the mastermind of the scam recruited most of the men at migrant camps and paid them to cash the checks.

The Johnston County Sheriff's Office and Raleigh Police Department were investigating similar incidents, reported Percy. He said a bank in Princeton had been scammed out of an even larger sum of money last month. PErcy said the State Bureay of Investigating is also investigating.

Click here for more surveillance photos from the Benson Police Department web site.

http://johnston.mync.com/site/Johnst...on-bank-14000/

pictures here:
http://bensonpd.org/bbt_photos.htm