I received a letter in the mail that is too good to be true, as usual. It follows:
"This is to find out why you have not claimed your winnings. We have made unsuccessful attempts to contact you regarding your SWEEPSTAKES winnings. Your name attached to ticket number 23280878 drew the lucky winning numbers in the second category of the North American Retialers Guilds promotional program paid to our qualified participants. This is a complimentary consumer loyalties program which was sponsored by major consumer product manufactures.
In accordance with the Sweepstakes Commission policy, your prize award money has been forwarded to our clearing/disbursement institution to release your funds to you." (A BanCorp Bank in Tupelo, MS in this case, although I have seen at least two other locations listed on these reports!)
"Your lump sum payout is US $150,000.00 (ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS) CONGRADULATION! Your winnings will be delivered to you by FedEx once the taxes have been paid.
We have enclosed a cheque for you in the amount of $3990.00. You are going to se some money on this cheque to pay for the taxes. Per your state regulation, a tax amount of US$2,920.00 will be required before your lump sum winnings can be sent to you. The payment will be done at WESTERN UNION which you can find in most of your grocery stores. Payment will be made directly to your tax agent. You will get the tax information from your claim agent NICOLE HAMILTON."
(First of all, taxes are always a winner's responsibility, whether it be from gambling winnings in a casino to the state lottery. You would have been given a form to fill out for the IRS to report the winnings, usually a 1099G. This was my biggest tip off that it was a scam because I work with income taxes every day and I deal with lottery and casino winners on occasion. There is no company that I know of that REQUIRES you to pay the taxes up front, and even if they did, the FEDERAL taxes would be paid before state since some states don't have individual income taxes.)
The last two paragraphs were the kicker though...
"Kindly contact your assigned Claim Agent Nicole Hamilton at 1-905-781-4989 as soon as you receive this notice for further instructions on how to claim your grand winning. It will be to your advantage and satisfaction to follow this procedure to avoid delays in processing your claim or cancellation. Call your claim agent immediately to have your cheque activated (since when do you have to 'activate' a check???) before you deposit.
Payment receipt (s) must be faxed to 1-206-202-6365 for proper documentation. You will not be credited if you fail to fax the payment receipt (s)."
This letter was signed by Brian Glendale (CFO)
The first thing I suggest doing is checking the routing number on the check against the routing numbers for the bank the check is supposedly drawn on. Yes, it looks real enough, but if you talk to any customer service representative and ask them if it's a correct routing number, they can and ususally WILL tell you if it is or not when you explain why you want to know.
The second thing I suggest... Fine a report here. It was this site that saved me from making a huge mistake.
Third, remember one very important and very old saying..."Something that appears to be too good to be true... Usually is!" Trust your instincts!
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