Scam alert

The Midland County Sheriff’s Office is warning area residents about a scam that appeared in the classifieds sections in the Midland Reporter-Telegram.

According to a news release from Midland County sheriff Sgt. Ray Weatherby, a woman told investigators she responded to a job ad for a customer service representative purportedly from Avon Inc. in the MRT’s Sept. 27 edition. She told Weatherby that they responded by mailing her a bogus $2,500 check, telling her they were hiring her as a secret shopper.

Weatherby said the letterhead was “Avion Inc.” rather than Avon, and it instructed the woman to cash the check at her bank, then mail $2,150 of the $2,500 via Western Union to someone in England. The letter said $150 would cover the Western Union transaction fee and the remaining $200 would be her commission.

The letter then told her to fill out a questionnaire on the experience using Western Union and send it back to the company.

The same ad was submitted to the Odessa American to run between Sept. 25 and Oct. 1 but was never published.

Weatherby said he called the bank identified on the check as its issuer and was told they received about 1,000 bogus checks that were connected to Avion.