They looked legitimate, but close scrutiny of three Lawrence Memorial Hospital paychecks recently cashed by a Lawrence convenience store revealed small details that didn’t look quite right.

An assistant manager at Conoco Fast Lane, 1414 W. Sixth St., said he hoped publicity would alert other businesses to the bogus checks.

“They look like regular paychecks we see every day,” assistant manager Sam Sangam said.

Fast Lane lost nearly $1,000 when the checks were returned uncashable. A call to LMH revealed they were fake paychecks, Sangam said.

The checks are dated May 22 and were cashed at Fast Lane the next day. On May 24, three similar bogus checks were cashed at a Price Chopper Grocery Store in Bonner Springs.

“They really looked the part and came in wearing hospital scrub outfits,” Price Chopper co-owner Quentin Brewer said. He said the suspects were two women and a man.

At both stores, names on the checks and their amounts were listed as Kevin Gladstorm, $327.46, Cathy Stewart, $346.52, and Marla Stone, $314.12.

The checks also had Social Security numbers printed on them  something that isn’t done on legitimate paychecks, LMH officials said. The address for LMH on the checks was 325 Main St. instead of the correct street name, which is Maine Street.

“They don’t look anything like our paychecks,” LMH spokeswoman Janice Early-Weas said. “About 80 percent of our employees have their checks direct-deposited, anyway.”

Neither store initially reported the checks to police. Brewer said he didn’t think he had enough information for police to work with. Sangam reported the checks to Lawrence Police on Monday afternoon.

Bogus paychecks are not uncommon, Lawrence Police Sgt. Mike Pattrick said.

“In this age of available technology  with computers, printers and scanners  it’s not difficult to print out a realistic check,” Pattrick said.