Police: Fayetteville woman's bogus checks topped $500K

Marie Elizabeth Register, 48, of 4542 Caskey Court, was charged with two counts each of obtaining property by false pretense and obtaining property greater than $100,000 by false pretenses, four counts of forgery of instrument and one count of possession of five or more counterfeit instruments.

Investigators said Register printed and mailed 235 counterfeit checks valued at more than $500,000 to people selling items on the eBay and Craigslist websites.

Register asked sellers to cash checks valued at more than what she owed, keep payment for the items purchased and send the balance back to her via Western Union or Moneygram, investigators said. She would then mail the cash to Nigeria.

Police have found 2,630 checks so far that they have linked to the scam, with a total value of $7.1 million.

Investigators are still trying to determine whether the scam has ties to terrorist activity, police said.

Register was being held Tuesday in the Cumberland County jail under a $77,000 secured bond.