A Schuylkill man was bilked out of over $1,900, state police at Schuylkill Haven reported.

Troopers said a 44-year-old man from Orwigsburg, received a check in the mail with a letter of instructions. The instructions indicated that the victim was to deposit the check and keep a $400 commission. The victim was then instructed to purchase three Visa vanilla gift cards or Visa One vanilla gift cards for $500 each. The victim was instructed to take photographs of the gift cards and their numbers and send them to a listed phone number as well as email addresses listed in the letter.

The victim did as instructed and was later informed by his bank that the check was fraudulent and he is now responsible for the funds, which totaled $1,940.