Energy drink scam jolts Brown Deer company
BROWN DEER, Wis. - An energy drink scam jolted a Brown Deer accounting firm when it started getting calls from near-victims.
Contact 6 discovered it’s a new twist on a classic scam. In April, the US Postal Service returned four packages to Covenant Accounting in Brown Deer. No one at Covenant Accounting recognized the packages. They didn’t send them. The packages were mailed by someone else who falsely listed Covenant Accounting as the sender on the brown envelope.
"It's concerning," said Cristi Winkler, the office coordinator for Covenant Accounting.
Cristi Winkler
Inside each package was a $4,600 check and a letter that appears to offer a job with Full Throttle energy drink. The recipient was instructed to deposit the check into their own account, then transfer most of the money into the account of their new "supervisor."
Winkler remembers the first near-victim to call Covenant Accounting’s office with questions.
"I told him it was probably a scam and he said, "no this is pretty legitimate," Winkler told Contact 6.
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The Better Business Bureau (BBB) says the victims will soon learn the check didn’t clear their account and the money they sent is gone.
"This is a classic fake check scam," said Jim Temmer, president and CEO of the BBB Serving Wisconsin. "You should never remove money from a checking deposit until it clears the bank."
Jim Temmer
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The scam letter is filled with red flags, like poor English. The name listed on the checks is Brighthouse Financial.
Deon Roberts, communications director for Brighthouse Financial told Contact 6 in a statement:
Brighthouse Financial can confirm that these counterfeit checks were not issued by Brighthouse Financial or any of our subsidiaries. We take such matters extremely seriously, and upon learning about this scam, we immediately opened an investigation and promptly reported this matter to federal law enforcement.
Contact 6 left a voicemail for the scammer but didn’t hear back. Full Throttle didn’t return a request for comment on this report.