We received a "Notice of Winning" from this company in a letter postmarked from Canada, no return address. This letter notified us that we were a "second category winner" of $196,350. A check in the amount of $3650.00 was enclosed from the account of MIZUHO SECURITIES USA INC and written on bank check listed as "JPMorgan Chase Bank". The stated purpose of the check was to pay the "Non Resident Government Service Tax (GST) on the winnings. The tax in the amount was $285O was to be paid either by Western Union or Money Gram after we deposited the check that was sent to us. The signature on the letter was from a JOHNATHAN BEAUCHAMP (Promotion Manager) whose signature was obviously copied from an original.
We called the number listed as 1-613-276-8225 (Canadian Phone Number) and spoke to a man named Ken Larsen who had a foreign accent and did not sound like a native Canadian. He informed us that the sweepstakes had been going on for 5 years and that it was based on credit card usage. All we had to do to receive our winnings was to deposit the check in our bank account and then forward the tax in the amount requested.
The check appeared absolutely authentic, leading us to believe that this was a legitimate win. After planning an extended family vacation to Hawaii, I checked with Complete Rip Off and discovered this and similar scams from these folks in Canada.
Thanks to your website, we were spared a the loss of a substantial sum of money as well as the embarassment of being caught up in it. Someone in Canada should seek these crooks out and prosecute them to the fullest extent of Canadian Law.
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