Subject: award claim final notification
lot - wac46005 & claim a014508092306
september 27th
I received the following letter in the mail the other day along with a check for $3000 drawn from 'Alliance Bank':
"Many are called but few are chosen. The reason for your good fortune is clear; you have been an exceptional lucky sweepstake winner. That's why we are delighted to inform you through this letter that our network system shows you as the lucky winner of unclaimed prize money in the amount of $50,000 USD (Fifty Thousand Dollars). The system indicated that you won the award on September 15th sweepstakes draws.
All participants were selected through computerize ballot system drawn from reader's digest, publisher's clearing house, Computer games, sweepstakes, casinos, data base are from Australia, New Zealand. Europe. North and South America, South Africa and Asia, as this is our International promotions program which is conducted annually congratulations! It is important to let you know of the International Law guiding the fairness in personal collection of cash prizes. The International Law requires that a winner pays processing and taxes fees before all the funds are released. The same Law also prevents you from paying with your personal money but from your winning money.
Your funds are now deposited with us and insured in your name. Please find enclosed cashier's check of $3000 USD payable to you and must be deposited only to the payees account cash and part send to the processing office to finalize your claims. This amount is an advance for processing and International taxes payment which will be deducted from total winning with the balance paid out to you upon receipt of your payment. We ask that you keep your lot and claim numbers confidential till your claims has been properly processed and funds remitted to you as this is part of our security protocol to avoid any DOUBLE CLAIMS.
Please take advantage of this golden opportunity by contacting your claims agen NORAH WILLIAMS or PERRY NEWMAN at 1-403-889-5419 upon receipt of this notification, Mon-Fri, 8am to 7pm, sat 8am=12moon EST. Note that all prize money must be claimed not later than October 16th at which any unclaimed funds shall be forfeited. Once again congratulations from all our staff."
Signed as:
Lillian mckinney
director claims & credit control
I wanted to share the entire letter with everyone for two reasons. 1) This is a SCAM. Pne of the worst I've seen in a while. If I can help just one person by telling him/her about this BEFORE any checks are deposited, long-distance phone calls are made, etc. Then I will feel all of my investigation efforts and almost being made a fool of, myself, will all have been worth it. 2) I wanted everyone who has passed REMEDIAL ENGLISH with a grade of D or better to have fun trying to find all of the grammatical errors. It's now your own 'Where's Waldo'-type game coming to you from cyberspace to test your basic English skills - ENJOY! Everything typed in the letter is verbatim. I did my very best not to automatically correct this as I typed, however, I was not able to capture all of the over-emboldening and over-use of the underlining feature as reflected in my 'original' letter.
The part I'm loving the most that I just have to share with everyone. I have spent the last 7 years of my career in the real estate industry primarily devoted to fraud investigation - I absolutely love the fact that criminals are too stupid to think about who they are sending these things to before they send it as well as being so completely ignorant that they can't even commit the fraud well!
Come on, folks. If you're going to do this kind of a thing, could you put a little more effort into it??? At least make the documents grammatically correct, purchase a template on-line of 'official-looking' letters, etc. To throw the authorities off track for a minute, not use the name of a Russian bank that went into default over 3 years ago (google search of Guta Bank, found a few articles about this), use an '800' number or a 'land-line' - not your cell number (I'll bet the one I have is a pre-paid number, to boot!), etc.
Word to the wise. Don't attempt to commit fraud - you will be caught, it's only a matter of time. Although, I do always enjoy someone making a good, half-assed attempt at fraud - it's fun to see the levels of idiocy present in this day/age and I love to laugh! Hmmm well, if you must commit, who am I to tell you not too. I'm only the one who is happy to catch you. Everyone else, please, please, PLEASE be careful!
Double-check everything before making calls or depositing/cashing checks. If it sounds too good to be true, it IS. These types of offers usually appear on your doorstep (so to speak) when you are in dire need of cash - from an extra few $ to a windfall - or you are in a most vulnerable spot. Please stop and think clearly before proceeding - a simple act may save you time, money, heartache, potential financial ruin, needless stress, etc. And ALWAYS notify your bank (if applicable) and the proper authorities whenever you receive any sort of fraudulent documentation from anyone or any source.
One a side note: This rip-off is almost as good as the one I received on my work email when I was employed by a national bank, as a fraud investigator. That one involved a 'barrister', his sick/dying client, the client's money held in a strong-box in a foreign country and 'wouldn't I help them retrieve the funds for a percentage of the kitty?' Another search uncovered many others who had been scammed by that one. For those interested, do a search under the name 'Victor Madu'. Enjoy!
Laura
Simi Valley, California
U.S.A.
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