To catch a thief

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Bigger tires in a growth market

feature To catch a thief

Dealers put competition aside to crack check fraud scheme

By Ann Neal

Deception, suspense, even a police chase — the employees of Wonderland Tire did not need to go to a theater for a bit of Hollywood drama one hot summer af ernoon in August. It all unfolded in their own tire shop.

For those involved, the experience generated more excitement than any motion picture. Score one for the good guys. T ey literally had caught a thief.

Within f ve minutes of the call to authorities, a police Within f ve minutes of the call to authorities, a police car raced into the parking lot. T e suspect’s pickup truck r raced into the parking lot. T e suspect’s pickup truck was parked in front of the entrance to the s parked in front of the entrance to the Wonderland shop. His companion onderland shop. His companion was seated in the s seated in the truck. truck.

Modus operandi

T e action began around lunchtime when a customer walked into the showroom of the tire dealership in Byron Center, Mich. No one was at the front desk, so one of the shop employees called for Nate Dykstra, assistant manager, to man the counter.

The customer was looking for a set of Bridgestone truck tires. Nate advised him that the particular tire he asked for was not in stock and suggested a set of Falken tires instead. T e customer agreed, perhaps a bit too quickly, Nate thought.

Nate closed the sale and the customer wrote a check for $1,800, which he placed on the counter. At that moment, the transaction changed from routine purchase to potential crime. Nate had recognized the name imprinted on the check. It was that of a man suspected of paying for merchandise at local businesses with checks drawn on a closed account. (From left to right) Ryan Brunsting, store manager; Nathan Dykstra, as

Nate never dreamed the suspect would sistant store manager; and Jim DeVries, CFO for Wonderland Tire in Bryon make it to Wonderland, but here he was with Center, Mich.; all played an integral role in the capture of a scam artist. checkbook in hand. His mind was racing, yet in a performance worthy of Hollywood’s best, he kept the When the f rst police car appeared, the man in the truck shock from showing on his face. Nate triumphantly thought, jumped out, raced through the Wonderland shop and out the “Now we’ve got him.” open overhead doors to a nearby gas station. Seeing a second

Calmly, Nate told the man he needed to go into his of ce police car pull in to the parking lot, the suspect who wrote to f nish writing up the bill and make it tax exempt. T at was, the check ran out the front door toward the same gas station. of course, a diversion. Shop employees directed the police to the gas station,

Nate hastily scrawled the man’s name on a yellow note pad where the suspects were caught in the rest room f ushing the and placed it on the desk of Ryan Brunsting as he walked fraudulent checks down a toilet. T e checks were salvaged past. Ryan, who is manager of the Wonderland store, read the for use as evidence. name. He recalls thinking to himself, “Who is that, and why do I recognize that name?” Suddenly, he knew the answer. T e backstory

Ryan walked out of his of ce and past the customer to the T e real-world drama at Wonderland actually began in late of ce of Jim DeVries, chief f nancial of cer for Wonderland. July. T e suspects had successfully targeted several businesses Ryan asked Jim to call the police. Meanwhile, Nate kept the in the Grand Rapids area, including tire dealerships. Employees man occupied at the front desk with small talk about his at two of those shops took the initiative to warn other tire business, truck and trailer, and other topics. stores, their competitors, to be on the lookout.

Wonderland received a telephone call Tire Service includes locations in Illinois, from a person who said his tire shop had Wisconsin and Indiana; and Belle Tire lost a large amount of money to a customer includes locations in eastern Michigan who paid with a fraudulent check. No other and northern Ohio. details were of ered. A few days later, on Af er get ing the call from Belleroc, July 31, Ryan received a telephone call Ryan alerted managers at all Wonderland from Belleroc Tire Service, a joint venture locations to the check scheme via email. between Tredroc Tire Service and Belle T e suspect was probably feeling very Tire that consists of six retail locations conf dent as he strolled into Wonderland. and one Bandag retread plant. He had just purchased four large truck

T e caller, Mike Dykstra (no relation batteries with a fraudulent check at a to Nate), general manager of the Belleroc nearby truck dealership. store in Byron Center, gave the name and “Nate helped this man when he came description of a man who had paid for in to our store and identif ed him as the medium truck tires with a fraudulent check. check fraud suspect. Nate would probably

“Perhaps the common thing to do would tell you he was just doing his job. He is an be to keep quiet about it and let the other intelligent and dedicated employee who tire companies deal with it on their own no doubt received a lot of satisfaction from if the man tries it on them,” said Dave being the one who caught this guy. Nate, Langerak, a co-owner of Wonderland Ryan and Jim are all very good company Tire. “These good employees did not do that. T ey alerted us to what had happened to them. T e retail industry loses We are grateful. T is allowed us to identify the $12 billion a year to bad man when he came to us. checks, with industry Without those phone calls we probably would have estimates attributing half of been taken for some tires, those losses to check fraud. as well.”

Founded in 1978, Wonderland is a familyowned business with 70 employees and employees who care for the well-being f ve locations in the west Michigan area of Wonderland Tire and treat it as is if and Chicago. T e company specializes in it were their own company,” said Dave. tires and tire-related services for passenger vehicles, light trucks and commercial Tough to spot trucks. Wonderland Tire technicians are Checks are usually the preferred payTIA (Tire Industry Association) certiment method for customers without credit f ed by an in-house certif ed trainer for cards. But both check and credit card fraud both commercial tire service (CTS) and are major threats to the f nancial health automotive tire service (ATS). Companyof any business. wide, about 50% of revenue is generated T e retail industry loses $12 billion a from sales of Wonderland’s AcuTread year to bad checks, with industry estimates remanufactured truck tires, which are at ributing half of those losses to check produced via a proprietary retread process. fraud according to the website of SCORE,

Belleroc’s retread plant, located in Grand a nonprof t organization dedicated to the Rapids, Mich., has been in operation ussuccess of small businesses. ing the Bandag process since 1987. T e Most businesses want to make mulprocess is now part of Bridgestone Comtiple forms of payment available for the mercial Services, a division of Bridgestone convenience of their customers. Despite Americas Tire Operations (BATO). precautions at checkout, a bad check may

All service technicians and salesmen are still slip by. TIA certif ed. Belleroc’s service extends “T is one would have been very dif cult to all segments — including retail, OTR to prevent if we had not been alerted f rst and commercial. Belleroc Tire Service by other local tire companies,” said Dave. includes locations in Michigan; Tredroc “T e man had what appeared to be a valid

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I.D. in the form of a driver’s license. T at is typically what we would ask to see for a check of any amount.”

At Belleroc Tire, the suspect came into the shop twice in the same week. He mentioned the names of several familiar Belleroc customers, which gave him some credibility, according to Mike.

“He was so brazen. He gave us his identif cation and signed documents with his name. T e check was from a major bank and he provided a phone number along with his I.D. T ere was nothing to give the appearance that it was not a legitimate check,” Mike said.

Af er the bank notif ed Belleroc that the check was written on a closed account, Mike called the local sherif to f le a report. His next move was to call area tire dealers, a step that led to the arrest of the two suspects.

Valuable lesson

T e drama did not end with the arrest at the gas station.

Excitement was still running high when

Tips for accepting checks

A variety of electronic and paper check processing solutions are available commercially, including technology that converts paper checks into an electronic transaction at the point of sale and transfers funds directly from a customer’s checking account to the retailer’s business account.

For merchants accepting traditional paper checks, verifying that the person offering the check is the account holder can help prevent fraud. Retail chains usually access account and cardholder databases for identity verif cation and payment authorization. Smaller merchants often do not have that option.

Local banks and law enforcement should be able to provide tips for specif c actions to detect check and card fraud at checkout. The U.S. Small Business Administration offers these guidelines (www.sba.gov/content/accepting-checks) for detecting fraudulent checks at the point of sale:

• Checks must be from a local or in-state bank. • Checks should not be written and accepted for more than the purchase amount. • Checks should not be accepted that are starter checks, unnumbered checks, or non-personalized checks. • Accepted checks should be deposited as quickly as possible. Banks may refuse to honor checks dated back six months or more.

Instruct employees to carefully examine every personal check for information that is essential for chasing the check:

• Personalization – The customer’s complete name and address must appear on the check. • Date – The check date must be current. Do not accept post – or future-dated checks. • Bank I.D. numbers – The check must have a bank identif cation number, or routing transit number, that runs across the bottom, along with the customer’s account number and check number. This information is used by a bank to identify the transaction and resolve payment issues. • Payee – The “Pay to the Order of” section must indicate your business’s name. • Dollar amounts – Both the written and numeric amounts must match. • Customer signature – The check should be signed in your presence and verif ed with photo identif cation. • Verifying identif cation can help your business safeguard against fraud. However, some state laws regulate which forms of identif cation businesses can require to see. Depending on your business location, it may be illegal to require customers to show a credit card as a condition for accepting their check. Commonly accepted forms of identif cation often include a state-issued driver’s license, I.D. card, or military I.D.

Source: www.sba.gov/content/accepting-checks

the key from the ignition, he popped the hood and pulled

municate with one another when something like this happens. T is man hit many local businesses with this same check falsif cation scheme, and several were local tire companies. “Even though we are competitors in the marketplace, there is room for cooperation when it comes to something like this,” said Dave. Earl Kamps, also a co-owner of Wonderland Tire, added: “Our employees did a great job. T ey kept their cool and nabbed this guy. It would be ideal if tire dealers would inform each other when scams arise so we can shut down these criminals.” Mike from Belleroc echoes the sentiment: “We f ght each other every day out there, but we have to stick together Without the help of their competitors, Wonderland Tire Center would have become another victim of check fraud. The would-be thief is awaiting trial. on some things.” Sticking together to prevent f nancial the police asked tire technician George Moore to make sure was charged as a habitual of ender as well as with false pretenses. the suspect’s truck could not be driven of . Rather than remove He is awaiting trial. ■ crime works. Need proof? T e suspect out the spark plugs. As the truck was towed away, everyone, Ann Neal is a f eelance writer with more than two decades of including the policeman, shared some laughs as well as a lesson. experience managing employee, f nancial and marketing com

“I think there is a valuable lesson to be learned here: Communications and Web content in the commercial trucking industry.