My Father in law, some time ago, entered into a drawing/sweepstakes through the I have a Dream Foundation. He sent them $20 for the entry fee and a few months later he recieved a phone call from the foundation that he had won the drawing and was a 2nd place winner of $350,000. The foundation rep that he talked to, whose name I have written down and will include at a later time, put him in touch with a head honcho from the "federal trade commission" named bruce freidman. They told my father in law that he would be recieving his money in a few days but he had to 1st insure his money through our local insurance company that he also goes through for his home insurance. So we"ll just call my father in law "chris" went to walmart and made out a money order in the amount of $1,650 and sent it to an address that the FTC had gave him.
Everyday for a week they kept telling "chris" that his money would be there the next day. Then he recieved a phone call from the FTC that the 1st place winner was not eligable for the prize and was "chris" was now the 1st place winner of $1.1 million dollars, and thats why his money hasn't showed up yet. So for another wk to 2 wks the FTC, Bruce Freidman, kept telling "chris" that his money was enroute to be delivered and would be there the next day. Everyday my father in law was told this. Finally when "chris" got angry and demanded to know why his money had not arrived yet, Bruce Freidman told him that he would look into it and call him back. Bruce called back "chris" and said the money was in Las Vegas at the customs office. Ok... Las Vegas doesn't have a customs office. But nevertheless, the money was there and in order for "chris" to get it he had to send $11,000 to the customs dept.
I personally called the number that they gave "chris" and got the answering machine of the business which was called the "I have a dream foundation". I warned my father in law that this was a scam and to not send them any more money and have the local authorities do an investigation on thesew people. I already emailed the FBI's fraud squad and the Attorney General is next on my list. "chris said he would call the foundation and Bruce Freidman and demand his money back and not get any further involved with these people.
Within a day my father in law called me and said that the foundation told him that they were willing to pay almost 3/4 of the $11,000 if he would pay the rest which was about $4,000 - $5,000."chris", I later found out, that he agreed to that and went down to the bank and got a personal loan. He put his truck up as collateral for the loan and went back to walmart and sent the money to the address in Las Vegas that Bruce Freidman gave him. Once again, it has only been a few days but still his money has not shown up and they still have an excuse everyday as to why... It is unfortunate that my father in law has fallen so far into this scam and will probably not see any of that money back.
I can only make reports of it to authorities and hope something is done about it before they suck another person into this scam. I hope that this will stick into your head in case you should ever recieve a phone call from this foundation or any other "business" claiming that you are a winner. I was told by a law enforcement officer that if you are truly a winner of a drawing or sweepstakes, you do not have to pay any money in order to recieve money. If they want you to pay money then its a scam.
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