Douglas County Bank CEO and President Billy Mayhew said his bank receives about 50 fraudulent checks a year and his tellers catch more than 90 percent of those presented to them.

Yet, the sophistication of technology that scammers use and the vulnerability of their unsuspecting victims make it sometimes easy for valued customers to fall prey, said Mayhew, who has been with the bank for more than 29 years.

Fraud is a topic on many people’s minds these days, especially Mayhew’s. Recently, he has seen firsthand the financial losses experienced by people he knows,

One incident happened within the last two weeks: The victim advertised a vehicle for sale in an automobile magazine for, say, $5,000. The person was contacted by an interested buyer, who offered to and sent the seller a cashier’s check for $9,500.

“They told him to keep the car and the title, which they would pick up later, and to wire the $4,500 back to them. That $4,500 is gone,” Mayhew said.

The “buyer” was traced back to Nigeria, he said.

In another case, Mayhew said a man lost his entire savings of $15,000 in another scam. Then there was the customer who came to his office because he’d received an e-mail saying he’d won the Canadian Lottery. He sent the person money, as requested, and the person even called while the customer was in Mayhew’s office.

“I took the phone and told him there’s a special place in hell for people who do this,” Mayhew said, adding that there was no way to trace the call because the caller was using a “pay as you go” phone.

Mayhew said most of the fraudulent checks are cashier’s checks, which can easily be duplicated. And his concern is that people may let their guard down because it is a cashier’s check, which could be legitimately issued by a bank.

“Just because it’s a cashier’s check doesn’t mean that it’s good,” he said.

Most of the fake ones are written using U.S. banks, Mayhew said, but actually originate from other countries, like Canada and Nigeria.

Mayhew spends a lot of time speaking before groups about their potential for being scammed. He recently spoke to a teachers’ retirement group that considers scams its biggest concern. And when he talks, he oftentimes uses Proverbs 21:5 from the Bible (New International Version) to bring home his point: “The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty.”

“If people go by that, they’d think twice before they act,” he said.

He also said people should remember that “if it looks too good to be true,” it usually is.

Mayhew offered information obtained from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Fraud Alert, which says if a person can answer “yes” to any of the following questions, he or she could be involved in a fraud or about to be scammed.

• Is the check from an item you sold on the Internet, such as a car, boat, jewelry, etc.

• Is the amount of the check more than the item’s selling price?

• Did you receive the check through an overnight delivery service?

• Is the check connected to communicating with someone by e-mail?

• Is the check drawn on a business or individual account that is different from the person buying your item or product?

• Have you been informed that you were the winner of a lottery, such as Canadian, Australian, El Gordo or El Mundo, that you did not enter?

• Have you been instructed to either wire, send or ship money, as soon as possible, to a large U.S. city or to another country, such as Canada, England or Nigeria?

• Have you been asked to pay money to receive a deposit from another country such as Canada, England or Nigeria?

• Are you receiving pay or a commission for facilitating money transfers through your account?

• Did you respond to an e-mail requesting that you confirm, update or provide your account information?

Mayhew said people fall for scams “all day long.”

“It’s hitting people when they are more vulnerable, during this economic time,” Mayhew said. “Most people want a chance to get extra money.”