Updated: Tue Oct. 28 2008 18:05:14

ctvcalgary.ca

A Calgary company has become the victim of a counterfeit cheque scam.

Dozens of fake cheques were cashed on a Scollard Energy account by people who thought they were acting as secret shoppers.

Aside from the background on the cheque's, Rob Hemminger says they are identical to his company's cheques.

Hemminger says a counterfeit cheque ring got hold of a real Schollard Energy cheque, made duplicates and sent those out to people who responded to ads seeking secret shoppers.

The shoppers were then told to cash the $3,400 cheque, buy an Ipod, fill out a survey and keep $500 plus the Ipod as payment. The remaining $2,700 was supposed to be wired back to a company called Zenith Consulting.

Hemminger was alerted to the problem when a shopper called Scollard to ask why they wrote the initial cheque instead of Zenith. Hemminger immediately called his company's bank and they prevented the fake cheques from being withdrawn from Scollard's account.