This company sent my elderly mother a letter informing her that she had won US $450,000 in the Sweepstakes and Lottery Draw held on June 1st.
The letter included a very realistic-looking phony check in the amount of $4,950.00, as an advance on the prize money, "to assist you to paying for the Non Resident Government Service Tax (GST). Taxes must be paid in full, before winnings can be legally released" in the form of a money gram. The check, dated July 29, purports to be drawn on a Bank of America account for a firm called "Double Radius, 2022 Van Buren Ave, Indian Trail, NC 28079". The "tax agent" is listed as Marissa Harvey, 3748 Oak Ave, Toronto, Ontario, Canada V6U 4U7".
The envelope has a Canada postmark. Around the same time, she received similar letters and phony checks from various companies, all with Canada postmarks. These letters are from Concord Clearing House, Chapel Trust Financial, Inc.; and Golden Rewards, Inc. The phony checks are all identical in appearance, except that they are for different amounts and purport to be drawn on different corporate accounts.
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