
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, October 17, 1993                   TAG: 9310170048
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

CON ARTIST TAKES RESTAURATEURS TO THE CLEANERS

Talk about being taken to the cleaners. Ray Coluzzi distinctly remembered a week or so ago when one of his waitresses at The Barrister Restaurant in downtown Washington spilled ketchup on a customer's coat.

So when he received a polite letter Thursday with a $9.20 dry cleaning bill enclosed and a request for reimbursement, he paid it without a second thought.

The "bill" was part of a nationwide scam targeting what postal inspectors estimate to be thousands of restaurants and fast-food outlets - from Oregon to Florida.

Writing as "John Walker," and apparently using an industry mailing list, the perpetrator sent restaurateurs letters from New York on Oct. 8 describing how he had brought a client to their establishment.

"You may already be aware of the fact that one of your wait staff accidentally spilt a drink and soiled my blazer," the letter continues. "As requested, I am enclosing a photocopy of my dry cleaning bill," which totaled $9.20.

Postal authorities estimate that "Walker" received as many as 500 responses - possibly $4,600 - before postal officials began seizing his mail. About 200 letters a day continue to arrive. If he is arrested, Walker would face up to five years in jail and a $1,000 fine for each fraudulent letter that was sent.

Authorities say that they began fielding complaints about the bills after the first batch was received in Massachusetts last Saturday and that calls continue to come in from across the country. The dry cleaning hoax is a sophisticated version of an old con game. But Holly Cherico, a spokeswoman for the Council of Better Business Bureaus, said that she had never seen a hoax before as extensive as this scam. Normally, she said, scams using fake bills will hit one area at a time.

by CNB