We received a letter dated 7/5 stating we had won last year's surplus jackpot. After calling to British Columbia, Canada (area codes 778 and 604) and talking to Jason Berry we were told to deposit the check to help defray the the Sweepstakes by-law requiring winners to pay a small insurance and processing fee to the clearing house prior to them releasing the check. We were to call back the next day to get further processing.
That night after checking this website and reading the case below on lawyers.com and the lawyers response (see below) we decided not to call back and then have to pay bank fees and the uncleared check amount.
"On 8/14 I deposit a check saying I won the National Lottery and I had to call Jason Berry to verfiy it. My bank let me put it into my account and they cleared the check on 8/16. If the check was fake than why come the bank let it clear? So I feel it is on the bank and not on me because the bank had two days to check out the check and they did not. They let it got through and they release the check on 8/16 and now the bank want me to pay back money that I did not know nothing
about and my bank is suppose to protect me against something like this but they did not."
Hillary B Miller (lawyer's response to report):"Under the Uniform Commercial Code, as a depositor of the check, you impliedly warranted that the check would be collectible. The burden of the returned check falls on you, not on your bank. Your bank owed you no duty to determine, in advance of your deposit or subsequent withdrawals, that the check would be valid — that was your duty. You must repay the money."
Thank God for those who report the abuse of being ripped off or in our case Almost Ripped Off. We may have to pay long distance charges for the phone calls but at least we do not also have to repay the bogus check amount of $2,556.75 or any additional bank charges or get our credit ruined in the process.
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