Vancouver police arrest two suspects in possible fraud ring

Vancouver police arrested two suspects early Friday evening after they cashed fraudulent checks at two local banks.

At about 6 p.m., the two suspects simultaneously entered Wells Fargo branches on the west and east sides of Vancouver, Sgt. Pat Johns of the Vancouver Police Department said. At the same time, he said two suspects reportedly entered two other banks to the south, one in Portland and another in the Clackamas area. The targeted east Vancouver branch is at 19100 S.E. 34th St., but Johns did not specify which west side branch was involved.

The suspect in the Clackamas area allegedly cashed a check believed to be worth about $6,000 and is still at large, Johns said, while it is unknown what happened with the suspect in the Portland incident.

Johns said police believe the four incidents are connected and are associated with a “fraud ring” operating in recent weeks in the Portland metro region, possibly even up north into Longview.

The ring’s “handlers” apparently recruit people from outside of the area, give them prefilled checks from legitimate area businesses that they have somehow obtained, and then direct the suspects to cash the checks at the same time at different banks, Johns said. The suspects arrested Friday in Vancouver are from Salem, Ore.

Johns said sometimes the bank clerks recognize the checks as suspicious in nature and don’t cash them but other times they do, and police believe the suspects then text the handlers and arrange to be picked up.

Due to the ongoing investigation, John said the police could not release the names of the two suspects arrested in Vancouver. It is unknown how big the operation is, he added, noting that in some instances suspects from as far away as Florida were involved.

“It’s hard to say how big (the ring) is,” Johns said.