The Criminal Investigations Division of the Illinois Department of Revenue is warning metro east businesses to be wary of individuals attempting to cash fraudulent tax refund checks.

The department has recovered three checks from a business in St. Clair County that appear to be business checks and are identified as Illinois State Tax Refunds.  The department is continuing its investigation to make sure there aren’t other fraudulent checks in circulation.

The Department of Revenue urges Illinois businesses that cash checks for their customers to be aware that Illinois State tax refunds and other state issued checks are issued by the State Comptroller and are not on a business type check drawn on a local bank.

Several suspects have been identified. This information has been forwarded to the St. Clair County Sheriff’s office.