I received a letter & a very real looking check in the mail saying I had won the UK & North American Shoppers Sweepstakes, with a very real looking check supposedly drawn on JP Morgan Chase Bank in Chicago for the amount of $3,750 USD. They claimed to be affiliated with Sears, WalMart, Costco, Home Depot, etc.
There were some telltale signs that this was a scam. The letterhead said it was from The National Lottery (since when does a lottery have anything to do with a sweepstakes?), and that I was entitled to $123,750 and that figure was followed with this: (One hundred and thirty thousand US dollars only), and the check said it was from Swithcraft, Inc (a Chicago, IL company that makes switches and connectors for audio products), and that to collect, I needed to wire $1,910 to them via Western Union for a UK non-resident tax (I hardly think that the govt.in the UK would not have the means to have deducted this before anything was sent to me), the letter was simply signed "Kathleen" with the name Katie Hamilton below it (first name only in the signature? How professional). On top of all that, there were so many typos in the letter (Sweepstake... No "s"), it said the check was drawn from my "wining" (English, huh?), and that my final check woud come "on" a special delivery package (I would prefer it "in" the package so nobody would rip me off!).
Needless to say, I did not attempt to cash the check so I have not lost anything.
0 comments