SOUTH BEND — Police are investigating a bizarre case of apparent identity theft, after a man applying for a job found out another man claiming to be him already worked there.

It started last Friday, when Manuel Salazar of South Bend got a paycheck stub in mail from the Pioneer Hybrid International plant in Plymouth. Salazar says he remembered applying for a job there a few months before, but never actually got it.

Imagine his surprise when the company told him he's been working there for the last six weeks. After nine months on the unemployment line, it was the last thing Salazar expected to just show up in his mailbox.

"It shows how many hours I worked there, my gross [earnings] and everything," Salazar said, pointing to the paycheck stub.

But he didn't work any of those hours. He tried to. Three months ago, Salazar says he gave his name, birth date and Social Security number to a man his friends told him could get him a "seasonal" job at Pioneer.

He waited, and hoped, but never heard back from the company. So when the check came, he scratched his head and picked up the phone.

"I said, 'I applied there, but I ain't never started working there,'" he told WSBT. "And they said, 'you got paid seven times, what do you mean?' I was like, seven times? I ain't never worked for you all!"

All the information on the check stub was a perfect match to Salazar's real birth date and Social Security number.

How could that be? Police say it's a scam, and Salazar likely isn't the only victim.

"This is like a live 'phishing' scam," said South Bend Police Department Captain Phil Trent. "I want your name, birth date and Social Security number. And instead of trying to get it through email or some other odd way of doing it, I just flat out walk up to you and say, 'hey do you want a job?"

In an increasing number of cases, Trent says the answer has been "yes."

"He provided them, in good faith, that he was going to secure them a job with Pioneer Seed," Trent said. "He could be doing this with five or 10 different businesses. We stop that, and we stop this. Who knows how many of these he's committed?"

Police are now investigating to try and find out. They're not alone.

"We are aware of the situation, and we are in the process of investigating," said Pioneer Plant Manager Mark Letsinger.

So far, Letsinger says the investigation has uncovered that the employee pretending to be Salazar no longer works there.

"It was a seasonal job, and those workers have gone back south. The seasonal work is generally from around July 4 to the middle of August," Letsinger said.

As for how the "fake" got the job in the first place, and whether he was "undocumented?"

Letsinger said that remains under investigation, too.

"We use a system called 'e-verify' to make sure all of our workers are legally documented. Nothing came back on that system in this case," he said.

Salazar, meanwhile, is worried that something else won't come back.

"I'm on disability, and I'm worried that my payments will be stopped because it looks like I had a job. [Without that money] it'd be real hard. We're barely making it even with that check," Salazar said, pointing to the home he lives in with his mother and sister.

Salazar says he did get an offer that would have made his finances a littler easier.

"The guy who stole [my identity] has been blowing up my phone talking about that he'll give me $3,000 if I don't report it to nobody or nothing," he said.

Salazar's answer?

"I told him no way. I can't take that money. I got to go see my lawyer," he said.

Police continue to investigate, and urge any other potential victims of the scam to contact them.

"The more we get on this, the sooner we can stop this guy," Trent said. "The bottom line is, unless it's someone you trust at the [Human Resources] office - even if it sounds good - never, ever provide someone with your personal information like this."