KENOSHA — The owner of Gyro Grill restaurant said he lost about $18,000 due to a fraudulent check scam. It’s a huge impact for this local business and now the owner hopes this doesn't happen to others.
Mike Barakat is the owner of Gyro Grill in Kenosha and has always paid drivers and vendors with checks. Until someone forged multiple checks from his business.
“Within seconds, the money is gone," Barakat said. “You know there’s scams and you’re trying to avoid it as much as you can and when something like this comes sneaking from behind you is like 'wow.'”
Mike saw large amounts of money were missing from his bank account and noticed that someone was cashing the fraudulent checks in Minnesota.
This person drained nearly $18,000 out of Mike's account.
“As a business owner, I get up every day at 6:30 a.m. and go home at 9 p.m., so [I'm] here 12 or 13 hours," Barakat said. "What did I do to deserve this?”
Watch: Business owner warns others to watch out for check fraud.
After the fraudulent checks were cashed, the account was left with only $85.
Mike has filed a police report with the Kenosha Police Department and is working with the bank to recover the money, but it has been a slow process.
“I had to move money from my savings account back to the business, so that way we can keep going," Barakat.
Mike said his father opened Gyro Grill back in 2011, but he took over the restaurant after his father developed a serious health condition.
“The money we’ve been working on for the last month, to support [our] family, to keep the business going, is just gone," Barakat said.
Now, as he struggles to get that money back, he is warning other businesses in the area to be careful.
“We’re scrambling, we need basically anybody to do something about this," Barakat said. "Milwaukee be careful because it looks like it’s one of the vendors and it’s coming for more businesses.”
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