I recieved a letter in the mail saying I had won a sum of money from a Reader's Digest lotto out of 126 finalists.
My ticket number 26840-57 and lucky numbers 16-23-36-39-41 had won a lump sum of $425,000 and had been credited to file with a reference number.
It said the credit department had not heard from me in 3 months and had been trying to get ahold of me or the agency taking care of my tickets (I don't do anything with any agency) but at first this made sense to me because I had been away at school.
After that, the letter seemed a little weird. It said that I was to keep the award confidential until my claim was confirmed. It also said that they did not deal with the pubic and it would be sent to the insurance company.
Enclosed in the letter was a check for $3,965.06 and the letter said that it was to cover any insurance and processing charges and I was "Required" to contact Jenna Woods or Michael Adams at the phone number BEFORE I deposited the check.
At the end of the letter it congratulated and thanked me for my interest in the reader's digest sweepstakes followed by a picture of a man a signature under the picture "Derek Williams" with the name Thomas D Williams "Chief financial Officer."
I called the number to see what or who would answer but no one answered but I got the answering machine of a woman who called herself Jenna Woods. I didn't leave a message and decided to look up some scams. Thankfully I read these reports before anything bad happened.
Odd things I noticed:
... There was no return address on the envelope and the stamp of my name and address had been stamped crooked.
.. The Reader's Digest logo was all over the letter.
.. The address of the company was from WA but the letter was post marked and had a stamp from Canada.
.. The check was made by Life Investors Company of America, Cedar Points, IA but above the amount of the check it said The bank of New York (Delaware) 311 Newark, Delaware 19711
.. The check had a stamped signature of a Brenda Clay.
..in fine print on the front and back of the check it said there were supposed to be water marks but there were non on either side.
.. Where a check usually says teh amount it said "pay exactly"
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