I received a letter from Dominion Group, Inc with an address of P.O. Box 125, New York, NY 11021 stating I'd been awarded a Home Improvement Grant of $39,000.00. They gave me a phone number of (289) 892-3068 to call. I contacted them and they confirmed that they would activate the check and that I should go to Western Union and send them $2,850. Oo which I should take from the check for $3,950.00 they had enclosed. Once I did this I would receive a balance of 37,050.00.
I did an internet search on the company name and it is a Canadian manufacturer of auto parts. I then did a reverse phone search and 411.com stated the number was a cell phone in Ontario. A reverse address search lists the address as being that of DR David H. Salsberg PSY D.
The check is written against Washington Mutual Bank and it says it was issued by Integrated Payment Systems Inc, Englewood Colorado Wells Fargo Bank Ltd N.A. Los Angeles, CA. The numbers at the bottom of the check (Routing, Account, etc) are as follows: 057946 122037171 68000105209201.
On the back of the letter it states that The following Companies are donors to the grants: MoneyGram International, GAP, McDonalds, The Home Depot, Blockbuster, Sears, WAL-MART, Sunoco, Starbuscks, Western Union, Best Buy, GE, Hitachi, Office Depot, Wendy's GM, Factory Warehouse Sales, Costco, Microsoft, IBM, A Greener Apple, ADM, Toshiba, Panasonic, and ExxonMobil.in the text of the letter they mention that they also awarded grants from a short list of candidates selected from Reader's Digest and Publisher's Clearing House databases.
The item that raised my suspicion was the following statement on the back of the letter: "This notification letter is very confidential and it must be kept at home at all times, lost or stolen must be reported to the issuing company within 24 hours." Why would they need to keep this confidential.
On the phone I was given the following instructions:
1. Go to Western Union and fill out a green form. Forward $2,850 to Jennifer Adams, 200 Madison, New York, NY 10016. Using 411.com I searched on this address since they gave me no suite number and there is a listing for Dominion Property Group on the 24 Floor.
I am assuming this is some form of scam. How can I verify its validity?
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