ORLANDO, Fla. — This story begins in Channel 9's Steve Barrett's pickup truck, where someone broke in a few weeks ago and stole a backpack with some checkbooks in it.
Barrett canceled those checks—but then a week ago, a homeless man said he was leaving a shelter when he was approached to help a man commit check fraud.
“They commonly come to get people to go to work for the day,” said Doug Weaver.
Weaver said it’s not uncommon for homeless people to be solicited for work outside of shelters. But last month, one of those solicitations turned out to be check fraud.
“This one here says, ‘hey, you want to work today?’ and so I said, 'Yeah, of course,'” he said.
The work Weaver was sent to do was opening a bank account in his own name and depositing a check—which turned out to be one of Barrett’s stolen checks.
“I allegedly had your signature, which obviously wasn’t but pay to the order of was the only thing that was left,” he said.
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Police told Barrett that kind of crime happens all the time—targeting vagrants who are most vulnerable and willing to go along with things because they’re desperate for money.
Barrett tried to call a man called “Big C,” who Weaver said provided him with Barrett’s checks, claiming he worked for Barrett.
The person who answered denied any involvement.
Jewell Ruth frequents one downtown shelter and understands the mindset.
“The neighborhood is like 'Why you turning to crime?' but if I'm starving and I need $40, do I really care about Bob, who has millions of dollars to spare?” she said.
Ruth wouldn’t say if she’d been approached for the same type of fraud, but she knows the tactic is prevalent.
“It's always somebody trying to take advantage of weaker people - whatever they can get accomplished from them,” she said.