On 10/04, a man named Harold Bennet, claiming to be a US Border Patrol Agent in the Bellingham, Wa. Office, called me stating that a parcel addressed to me from an associate of Reader's Digest and Publisher's Clearing House, outside the US, was bar code scanned to have a value of over $10,000. They would release the parcel to me only after I put up some money to show that I had the ability to pay taxes due. He claimed the taxes that would be due on the parcel include $1000 Federal Tax, $1000 Provincial Tax, $400 Luxury Tax and $1000 for a security bond. Only $1400 of this needed to be put up as insurance befor they could release the parcel. He directed me to do a Western Union Money Transfer to a relative you know would not be in the destination country of Lima Peru. He did not need to know the name but did need to have the "Reference Number" for the transfer. I put $1400 in cash on a "next day" Western Union Transfer (Ref# 312-442-9820) to Beth Clark in Lima Peru. Later that day (10/04) I went back to the wire service office, had the transfer canceled and retrieved the cash deposited. This morning he has called no less than ten times but I refuse to answer the phone. He can be reached at 438-876-9651.
This morning I reported this possible attempted fraud to the Western Union Fraud Hotline who also suggested it be reported here. I simply could not believe the US Gov't would work in this way.
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