I got a letter in the mail on Dec 4 from Aetna Global Financial. They claim to be a part of the Aetna Life Insurance Company as an agent for Aetna Global Benefits, and Group of Publishers Sweepstakes.
The letter claimed I had won SECOND PRIZE in a Lottery held in Las Vagas, Nevada. I am the winner of $95,000.00, and the check included in with the letter for the sum of $2,980.00 was to help pay a portion of the taxes. The letter instructed me to call their office prior to depositing the check.
The number given was 1-450-369-0135, and the persons name to contact is Ms Vanessa Denwood. I contacted her and reported receiving the letter and check in the mail, she then explained that I was to deposit the check and wait for it to clear the account. Then I would receive a package by special currier to deliver the remaining funds minus several thousand dollars for the IRS.
I Googled Aetna and got the contact info for their corporate offices, so far I've only managed to speak to the switchboard operator for Aetna Corp and he says it's a scam. I have left e-mails with their customer service team, and their fraud dept with no response as yet from anyone.
After reading of similar scam letters with checks at this site I'm very skeptical about it. I don't want to deposit the check only to have my bank close the account because of a red flag for a fraudulent check, which seems to be the typical knee-jerk reaction of most banks these days with rabid ID fraud crimes. At the same time I find it nearly impossible to get any kind of helpful response from the bank it's drawn against, or the parent company of Aetna! You would think the bank would at least tell me if the account is a real one but they won't even do that! Citibank, thanks for nothing!
The BBB has no hits on this company at all, and neither does THIS SITE! In fact, there are no categories in the menu for filing this report that include SWEEPSTAKES! When I made out this file I had to use categories about the IRS because it was the closest thing available as the letter stated the check was for IRS tax recovery.
Chuck, From Arizona
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