Received a letter with no return address from sender. The letter stated that I had "won" a home improvement grant in the amount of $39,000.00. There was also a check in the amount of $4,970.00 to be used to pay for fees and taxes for the grant.
I felt this wasn't legitimate so I pursued information to find out if in deed it was a scam. I called the phone number provided on the letter and spoke to a man by the name of "Andrew Peters".
Mr. Andrew Peters had a very thick foreign accent possibly of African decent. He advised me that I had won the grant and had been entered into it by using my debit card at a Wal-Mart, Home Depot or another party.
I proceeded to get additional information from him to proceed with the process. He informed that I would need to deposit the check into my checking or savings account and then withdraw $3,150.00 that would need to be sent by Western Union to pay for the "Fees and Taxes".
I was told the fees and taxes would actually be $2,999.00 and the remainder of the $3,150.00 would cover the Western Union fee to send money.
The individual I was directed to send the payment for fees and taxes was Stacy Duncan at 2880 Ave. West Brooklyn, NY 11229. Once the $3,150.00 was sent, I was told to then contact Andrew Peters back at 289-892-3087 to provide him with the conformation number that the money was sent.
Mr. Peters then states that after receiving the conformation number, the remaining $1800.00 out of the $4,970 was mine to keep as an installment on the $39,000. He also went on to state that I would be receiving a second check by courier from UPS or FEDEX for the remaining amount of $35,850.00. And that I would need to show a Valid State ID to receive the check.
After receiving all the information I could from Mr. Peters, we disconnected from the call. I then reviewed the letter and check that was sent and it all looked legitimate. The check was drawn off of First National Bank of Alaska.
The phone number for the bank on the check is 1-877-204-2267, however when I did search for that bank on Google, I found a different 800 number for the bank's customer service line. I then decided to call the number on the check to speak with someone from the bank to verify the check was legitimate.
I received a recording that was VERY convincing but yet didn't set well with me due the fact that the recording placed me on hold as if all service reps were assisting other customers and after about 2 minutes gave me another recording asking me to leave a message to be called back at a later time.
I did not leave a message I just hung up the phone. The company name on the check states Mad Al Distributors A Division of RY River, Inc. 412 w. 53rd Ave Ste. C Anchorage, AK 99518
I waited for a few hours the called the bank number provided on the check back, this time receiving a different recording still stating it was First National Bank of Alaska, but this time stating that all agents were currently busy and to call back, then was disconnected from the call.
I then found this site with information from others that this was a scam and I am now in the process of taking appropriate action against these individuals so that other people that may not be so suspecting will not be taken advantage of. I still have the letter and the check however my 1 year old daughter destroyed the original envelope the letter and check came in.
If anyone knows of how I can provide this information to authorities or how I can take further action please respond accordingly to this post
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