HAWAII COUNTY POLICE DEPARTMENT
HILO COMMUNITY POLICING PROGRAM
OFFICER RICHARD TOLEDO
PHONE: 961-2350
MARCH 13, 2003
MEDIA RELEASE
Hawaii County Police Department is warning Big Island merchants who accept personal checks that there have been a large number of bad checks being passed throughout the county.
Police are reminding merchants to inform their employees to take the basic steps of verifying the identification of the person passing the check.
Police said merchants and their employees should insist that an unknown person trying to cash a check shows a photo identification.
They should also verify that the name on the check matches the name of the person’s photo identification.
They also advised that third-party checks should be avoided.
Members of the general public are also advised that if they have lost or misplaced checks or have personal checks stolen, they should notify their banks or other financial institutions to stop payment on the missing checks.
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