The Polk County Sheriff’s Office is asking for the public’s help in identifying three individuals in regards to a fraudulent check cashing scheme.

The breaking and entering, larceny took place just outside of Columbus involved the taking of blank checks from a local business. The suspects went into All Bright Sanitation some time during the past week and took about fifty blank checks and printed them and began going to banks in Columbus, Hendersonville, and Asheville.

These fraudulent checks were passed to bank tellers along with what appears to be a government issued fraudulent identification card in an effort to obtain money. Through the passages of these checks the unidentified suspects were able to obtain over $20,000 in cash before a bank teller found it to be suspicious and alerted supervisors who placed a hold on the account notifying the customer and law enforcement.

The Sheriff’s Office wants to encourage banks and retailers to be aware and observant of suspicious transactions through the use of credit cards and checks. Anyone who has any information or can identify either of the suspects is asked to call the Polk County Sheriff’s Office at (828) 894-3001.