I recieved a letter in the mail with an Ontario, Canada post mark.inside the envelope was a letter and a check for $4,870.30. The letter explained that my name had been randomly selected from people who had entered several different sweepstakes.
I did not suspect any problem as I had entered at least one of the sweepstakes they mentioned. I do not consider my self to be gulliable, but I was almost taken by this scam. I first looked up the company on this web site and did not find anything. I used several different search engines to find out about the company. I did not find anything bad.
I called the number which is not in NY but in Ontario Canada. I was told to just take the check to a local bank and cash it. I was then supposed to take $3,100.00 cash to a money gram location and send it to a person in NY. I was told to say it was for legal fees if asked. Then they would send me a second check for $54,900.00. I was told this was a grant and I would never have to pay back any of this money.
It just happened that my local bank is the bank the check was drawn on. I went into the bank to a teller and asked her if it would be possible to cash it with out an account. She said she would find out. She left and came back and said that there was not enough money in the account that the check was written on to cash it, but if I could verify the check they would cash it.
I came home, and called the number in Canada again. I told them that I had just come from the bank and was told the check could not be cashed. I was given a toll free number to verify the check and was told to take that into the bank. I called the number which was a recording saying that I had reach the bank's check verification line. I entered the information they asked for and was told that the check was valid and gave me a validation number.
I returned to the bank with all my information ready to make a case to get my check cashed. I happened to get the same teller again. I gave her all the information I had collected and she went back into one of the offices. I was asked to please come into the office. The manager of the branch had called the customer whose check I was trying to cash.
She told me that the check I had was a conterfeit. The customer had never written a check to me. The toll free validation number I called was not the bank's number. The phone number on the check was not the customer's. Had I gone to a different bank or used a friends account, I would have been prosecuted for recieving stolen goods or possibly fraud any number of felonies. I gave the bank the check and then had them photo copy the letter front and back as there are the names of several legitimate businesses on the back (ie McDonald's, Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Starbucks, Sears. Just to name a few.)
I felt so very stupid and gulible but also very lucky that I did not cash the check. I am a single mom of a 14 year old girl and could not afford to have that type of issue on my record. Please if you get a letter like this, DO NOT CASH THE CHECK. Call your local police department and report it. I did.
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