It has been said that the only things you can depend on are death and taxes, but scams may rank a close third, and a few new scams have now joined myriad others targeting Flathead Valley residents.

One scheme that surfaces in different variations is a check scam, in which a con artist usually attempts to buy something over the Internet or phone, and then delivers or offers to deliver a check (which turns out to be bogus) for more than the stated cost of the item in order to receive cash back.

One person who found himself targeted by such a scam was Jahan Farhang of Lakeside.

Farhang was selling furniture when he was contacted through a text message by a person who said he wanted to buy the furniture, but told Farhang to contact him only through texts, not to call him. He wouldn’t hear back from anyone for two to three weeks.

“All of a sudden, this other guy shows up on my text messaging, saying if I go get wiring information, he would wire it to me,” Farhang said. “I knew it was a scam.”

But rather than just report the incident and forget about it, Farhang went to his bank and opened up a second account with the help of a bank manager to set a trap.

It was at that point that Farhang received a check for the furniture, which he was selling for $600. The check, however, was written for $1,735. The person who provided the check told Farhang to just cash it, keep an extra $150, and give the rest to the person who stopped by to pick up the furniture.

Farhang then, along with help from the bank, started doing some investigating.

He discovered that while the envelope that the check came in was addressed from Spokane Community College in Spokane, further information on the label indicated it was actually mailed from Myrtle Beach, S.C.

When he traced the text message, it came back to either Texas or New York.

“Then the bank went ahead and did the research, called up the other bank” from which the check had been issued, Farhang said. “There was no such account in that bank or under that person.”

When the bank went further and checked the email address being used, employees discovered the person to whom it was attached was already wanted for fraud in another state.

So Farhang decided to send an email to the second person who had contacted him.

“I said, ‘I think I know what scam you’re working on; I just don’t have the energy to deal with you. Don’t mess with people in this area, or I’ll turn you over,” Farhang said.

Farhang did, however, turn over his and the bank’s discoveries to the Flathead County Sheriff’s Office.

Another new scam targets prospective renters by posting false rental opportunities on Craigslist for properties that are actually for rent — just from someone else.

One woman reported to the Inter Lake that her son saw a house for rent for $650 per month on Swan Ridge Court on Craigslist. He thought it was very cheap and decided to check it out. He contacted the person who placed the ad and was told the owner was out of the country on a mission trip and wanted to rent the house.

He was also told to go on in, because no one was there.

When her son went to the house, however, he found a woman who turned out to be the owner of the house, trying to sell it herself. She was unaware of the Craigslist scam targeting people interested in the property.

Several identical incidents have occurred involving homes throughout the county, including incidents on Silver Leaf Drive and Danielson Road reported Tuesday.

Yet another scam hopes to prey on residents’ charity, with con artists posing as fundraisers for charitable organizations.

Trina Stivers of Kalispell was the target of that type of scam, but the people who tried to perpetrate it should have done a little more homework.

Stivers said it started when she received a call from a group claiming to be part of a breast cancer awareness organization based out of Portland or Seattle.

“They called saying they were from Save a Sister, and I said, ‘I wasn’t aware they do phone soliciting,’” Stivers said. “They said, ‘We do it all the time,’ and I said, ‘That’s really funny, because I work there.’ Then they hung up on me.”

Stivers is an employee at HealthCenter Northwest who has been on Save a Sister committees and works closely with others from the organization.

“We definitely don’t do cold calls,” Stivers said.

After calling the person back to get more information, she received a return call, this time from a group claiming to be Helping Hands for Foster Kids.

“Now they’re asking me for money for that,” Stivers said. “That money does not go to anybody here in Kalispell. They sound like they’re legitimate, but they totally aren’t.”

Along with the new scams, the oldies have stuck around as well, including bogus lottery scams like the one a pair of callers tried, unsuccessfully, to put over on Dick Gehrke of Columbia Falls.

Gehrke first received a phone call from Jamaica claiming he had won $7.5 million, but that he needed to send money for fees in order to receive his prize.

“I told him it was a scam, and he used the f-word and hung up,” Gehrke said.

But it wasn’t over yet.

Gehrke then received a call from someone he believed was part of the same outfit who claimed to be in San Antonio, again claiming Gehrke had won $7.5 million. He told Gehrke that a man would come to Gehrke’s house to pick up the $350 check to cover the fees.

Both times, Gehrke called state agencies to report the scams rather than returning the scammers’ calls.

He said he had received such calls in the past but had always just hung up on the callers.

“This time I figured I wanted to see what happened,” Gehrke said. “So this clown, he called back again and wondered if I called his guy. I said, ‘No, I called the FBI,’ and boy, he gave me that f-word again.”

Gehrke also questioned the caller’s mental abilities, noting that he claimed the $350 was to cover a 5 percent fee for the winnings, even though 5 percent of $7.5 million is $375,000.

Another common scheme reported recently is a phone scam targeting seniors in which the caller asks for their Medicare number and banking information in order to provide the victim with a new Medicare card. Some represent themselves as a Medicare savings club.

In order to report a scam, contact the Office of Consumer Protection at (800) 481-6896.

Reporter Jesse Davis may be reached at 758-4441 or by email at jdavis@dailyinterlake.com.