News Briefs

ARKANSAS

Forged State Check Scam Centers on Ark.

Arkansas Attor-ney General Mike Beebe’s office said it is among several state and federal agencies investigating an international scam involving forged copies of State of Arkansas checks. Operating from Turkey and possibly Latvia, the scam artists send out counterfeit checks, asking the targeted people to cash them and wire most of the money to Europe, while hoping to receive the money before it is discovered that the checks are fake.

The con artists appear to be targeting job hunters posting resumes online. Soon after a consumer posts a resume, he or she receives an e-mail from someone claiming to represent “Void Computers Inc.” The job seeker is welcomed as a new employee, and is told that the company needs help cashing checks from one of its “clients”: the State of Arkansas. Checks are sent in the target’s name, with instructions to cash the checks and wire the money to a Latvian address, minus a 10 percent fee the target may keep.

About 10 days later, the consumer receives two counterfeit State of Arkansas checks mailed from Turkey totaling $5,200, with the consumer’s own name and address printed on them. The consumer is encouraged to avoid banks, and instead go to a check-casher, liquor store, or other similar business. Some consumers have cashed the checks; other consumers and business owners have grown suspicious and contacted the State Auditor’s Office.

State Auditor Jim Wood said that although all the checks have been altered, they all bear the same Warrant Number, 05I-0614300; all copied from one legitimate State of Arkansas check-an income-tax-refund warrant mailed to California.

State Treasurer Gus Wingfield said while some checks have been redeemed in other states, they are not honored when they reach Arkansas. The state has not lost any money during the course of this scam.

Investigators in the AG’s office are also consulting with the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration, the U.S. Postal Inspector’s Office and the FBI.

Reports of the forged checks have come from Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.

LOUISIANA

Post-Katrina, LSP Tells Residents, Adjusters ‘Not so Fast’

As Hurricane Katrina moved out of Louisiana and into neighboring Mississippi on Aug. 29, officials with the Louisiana State Police warned residents and adjusters that conditions were too dangerous to venture into storm-tossed areas to in-spect damaged properties. Lt. Lawrence McLeary of the LSP, based in Baton Rouge told Insurance Journal, “As best as we’re able to determine, 500,000 people evacuated and that is a pretty sizeable number. Those that had the ability and wanted to evacuate certainly were able to.”

For agents and claims adjusters wanting to inspect damaged properties, McLeary warned, “Until an announcement is made, and our governor is currently doing a press conference, she is advising people it just is not safe enough to go in now. Before we’ll let anyone in, emergency services have to go in there and make a determination on the needs.

“We’re dealing with several issues,” McLeary continued. “We’re dealing with flooding, loss of power and all of the problems associated with that. Just in the New Orleans area alone where you have flooding, you’re going to have raw sewage, snakes, ants, so there are a lot of conditions where we don’t want people going back into.”

According to McLeary, if the storm had turned 10 degrees, “There may not be a New Orleans at this point, so we are very fortunate. We feel sympathy and empathy for those people to the east of us in Mississippi and Alabama, but it could have been a lot worse for us.”

Michael Brown, under secretary of Homeland Security for Emergency Preparedness and Response, announced that Federal resources were being allocated to support emergency protective response efforts in the parishes located in Katrina’s path. The parishes of Allen, Avoyelles, Beauregard, Bienville, Bossier, Caddo, Caldwell, Claiborne, Catahoula, Concordia, De Soto, East Baton Rouge, East Carroll, East Feliciana, Evangeline, Franklin, Grant, Jackson, LaSalle, Lincoln, Livingston, Madison, Morehouse, Natchitoches, Pointe Coupee, Ouachita, Rapides, Red River, Richland, Sabine, St. Helena, St. Landry, Tensas, Union, Vernon, Webster, West Carroll, West Feliciana, and Winn were designated eligible for assistance.

OKLAHOMA

Former Poultry Worker Ordered to Pay

A Jay, Okla., woman received a three-year deferred sentence and was ordered to pay $3,692.50 in restitution after pleading guilty in Delaware County District Court, state Attorney General Drew Edmondson said.

Gregoria Lopez, also known as Gloria Lopez, was charged with one count of workers’ comp fraud May 12 after investigators discovered she had opened a Mexican food stand in Jay, despite collecting temporary total disability payments for injuries she allegedly obtained while working for a poultry company.

Lopez was employed with Simmons Foods in February of 2000 when she claimed she ruptured a disk in her back while reaching for and lifting boxes of processed chicken.

Lopez began receiving disability payments from Simmons in March 2000, and she allegedly failed to notify Simmons of the change in her employment status when she and her husband opened a food stand in September of that year.

“In addition to making restitution to her former employer, Gloria Lopez will pay $300 in fines and court costs, and she will have a three-year deferred sentence,” Edmondson said.

TEXAS

Farmers to Reduce WC Rates15%

The Farmers Insurance Group of Companies said it would reduce workers’ compensation rates by 15 percent for its Texas business customers, effective Sept. 1, 2005. This reduction follows a 20 percent workers’ comp rate cut announced last January. Farmers reportedly has lowered its workers’ comp rates this year due to an improving insurance marketplace.

This latest 15 percent rate decrease will apply to both new and existing Farmers customers with workers’ comp insurance.

Farmers’ officials said the improving marketplace is a direct result of workers’ comp reforms passed by the Texas Legislature earlier this year and recently signed into law by Governor Rick Perry.

Farmers currently provides workers’ comp insurance to almost 1,900 businesses in Texas through its statewide network of Farmers agents.

Topics Texas Workers' Compensation Agribusiness Mississippi Arkansas