Fraud and Family

Due to technical difficulties last week, I couldn't post this...here it is:

My mom’s cousin, Vicki, borrowed $60,000 from my grandparents in 2003. Last Fall, she sent a cashier's check for $31,000 and a note that said that it was the balance on the money she borrowed. Umm, what about the other $29,000? She said she paid, they asked for a copy of the checks. Roger (my uncle, boyfriend of Vicki, son to my grandparents) showed them the duplicates and the register which of course don’t mean anything. They again asked for the copies. When they received them, the checks didn't have a signature on the back and looked like they had been altered. My mom said that wasn't good enough and Vicki gave her the name (Sandra Miller) and number of someone from the credit union. It was a cell phone number. That woman said that the credit union member had to call. Mom called the credit union directly and spoke to their fraud department. They didn't have anyone working there by that name. A month or two ago, my grandparents got a letter from “Sandra Miller” stating that one of the numbers had been traced to a Becky T_____ (my mom’s former married name, obviously my cousin didn’t know that she doesn’t go by that name anymore and the phone isn’t in her name) and asked if they knew of anyone by that name. The letter had the name of the credit union at the top, but it didn't have any contact information and it wasn't signed. My mom thought it was fishy and Roger said that it looked real to him, but he'd take it and copy it and then bring it back. Mom said that she had other things to copy so she'd go with him. He said that he was going to go scan it on the computer at home, but never mind. She thought that if he took it, she'd never see it again. Anyway, Vicki finally confessed that she had altered the copies of the checks that she had provided and composed and sent the letter from "Sandra Miller". The fraud department at the credit union said it looked like three people were involved: Vicki, her son Jason, and Roger. I told mom that it could be that they don't know anything about it. Vicki implicated my mom so she was capable of others at well. Although, granted, it doesn't look good for Roger at the moment. Especially since he and Vicki went on a trip to New England with her brother and his girlfriend; presumably on my grandparents’ dime. I wonder who the woman was who answered the phone as Sandra? The fraud department asked if they had heard from Vicki and when my mom said no, they asked if they wanted to because Vicki wanted to talk to them since she was afraid of going to jail. Vicki now said that she is saving that money for them. My mom said that if that's the case, then she would have no problem paying it with interest right now. She also told my mom that her account at the credit union has a memo on it about all this. One would think that the credit union would close the account.

My mom is going to write up an apology/confession for Vicki to sign as well as a promissory note for the remaining $29,000 and interest. They can tell her that they will not press charges if the money is paid back based on the terms of the note. The sad thing is that if Vicki had told them that she couldn't pay it back right now, then they would've let her keep the money. I mean, she took the loan in 2003 with no interest or terms for repayment, not even a signature and she didn't pay any back until 2005 so it wasn't that big of a deal.
If you’ll remember, I received an out-of-the-blue phone call from Vicki a few months ago. Presumably because a sermon at her church got her to thinking about people she hasn’t talked to in a while.

Watch out for those good Christians.