CHEYENNE COUNTY -- It has come to the attention of the Cheyenne County Sheriff’s Office that a new financial fraud has arrived in Cheyenne County.

Residents who have a Discover credit card take extra caution when submitting payments to Discover. Cheyenne County Sheriff Adam Frerichs said the department has had three reports of residents mailing their credit card payment, or so they believed they did, only to be charged with late fees as payment are never received by Discover.

"What appears to be happening, is the mailed payment is being stolen and washed resulting in the payment not going to Discover, as well as some amounts on the checks are being changed to a much larger amount, wiping out the individual’s checking account. Currently the banks have been very cooperative with these discrepancies and they have been caught in time, where the banks are able to dispute the charges," Frerichs said in a press release.

He urges Discover customers to be cautious when sending payments.

"Future victims may not be so lucky. If you have mailed any checks to Discover in the past month, we strongly advise you to contact your bank and Discover to make sure checks have cleared to the correct entity. The best way to avoid this is to make all payments on-line or contacting Discover directly," he said in a written statement.