SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO AM) - Police arrested two Georgia men for allegedly enlisting Sioux Falls transients to cash fake payroll checks.
Officer Sam Clemens says the men would ask the unsuspecting homeless if they have identification.
Clemens says investigators believe the men would email or text the information to a third party who would put the transient's names on the check so it would appear to be an official payroll check.
Clemens says the suspects offered the transients some cash and a meal if they cooperated.
Clemens says by the time banks cashed those checks and eventually realize they're fraudulent, it's the bank that's out the money. He says sometimes the suspects can collect thousands of dollars.
Clemens says the grifters go from town to town defrauding banks.
23-year-old Bashir Marquis Geidi of Grayson, Georgia, and 22-year-old Davon Rashad Holmes of Black Shear, Georgia, were arrested for making or possessing forged instruments.
Meanwhile...A 37-year-old transient was arrested after setting up an account at a city bank with a fraudulent check. Yai Yai withdrew cash from the account. He returned the next day but the bank discovered the check was phoney and called police.
Yai is charged with passing a forged instrument and forgery.