A couple of days ago i received a letter for my mom saying that she won in a random drawing for READERS DIGEST WORD POWER CHALLENGE. Along with the letter was a check for $5,300.00 Dollars in the letter it said that my mom won a total of $150.000.00 Dollars and that they took the $5,300.00 dollars from it so that you can pay for the CERTIFICATE OF CLEARANCE AND INSURANCE and then right after you send the payment via (WIRE TRANSFER) they will send you your lump sum winnings.
What was really strange was that three months prior my mom had passed away to the lord and i don't even remember if she ever did an entry for readers digest. It seemed believable cause we did have a subscription to it and i thought maybe she did do an entry.
So then i called the number that was supplied in the letter that they sent, to find out more on this check that was sent.in the letter it said before you cash the check you need to contact and talk with a claim agent ROB WILLIAMS so he can give you further instructions on claiming your winnings.
Right away the person claiming to be an agent answered the phone i asked him about the letter of course i was acting like it was mine to see what he would tell me. He told me to tell him the claim number and then said all i have to do is go and deposit the check at my bank and then when i do that to call him back for further instructions. I asked him what the $5,300.00 dollars was for and he said that i will be using it to pay for the Certificate of clearance and insurance. That after 9/11 they do that to verify your not a terrorist.
So then i hung up and told him ill go and deposit the check and then call him back. I went right away to my brother in law to ask his opinion on it. He had told me about a girl he know who just got ripped off on a scam where they would send her checks and she would have to deposit them into her bank take her part of the money and wire the rest to the people. The checks happened to bounce and she was responsible for the money.
So my brother in law called the man back and talked to him to ask for himself how this process works. He even asked him if he would to look up more information up him self would the company so up as legit? Well the man told him you can research on there company and that they have been in business for over 50 years etc. Etc... So when he hung up thats exactly what we did called and did some research. First we looked up the READERS DIGEST WORD POWER CHALLENGE that turned out to be a legit competition but it was for students for grades 5-8th and the prize money is no more than $25,000.
Than we called National City Bank which was the bank stated on the check we asked them to verify the routing number to make sure that there was funds in the account and the company. Both were verified but the guy told us that he would look into it more then call us back. While we were waiting for his call we looked up the company that was on the check and letter. (PRIME SOURCE INTERNATIONAL LLC) It is legit company but they have no relationship with READERS DIGEST.
There a Paper and Plastic company. So we called them and right away the person we spoke to said that this is not the first call they received about checks being made out in there name.
Somebody was using there physical mailing address and got a hold of there bank rotating number as well. They told us that they have a fraud alert on there bank for this very reason. So after we talked to the people from the real company the man from the bank called back to confirm exactly what the person from the company had told us that is was (FRAUD!!!)
So i never called this rob williams and i never deposited the check i just decided to report them to the fbi and file as many fraud reports as possible so innocent people wont be fooled with scams like this one.
I also scanned what the check and letter looks like so if any one happens to receive one they now know how to tell if its fake.
Be safe out there research before you do anything! You will be surprised what you find out.
Marissa
san marcos, California
U.S.A.
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