Coming home today, there was a letter addressed to my sister in her maiden name. She has been married almost four years now and has not lived in our home since then. The letter we received was from BELLAIR DIRECT in Quebec, Canada. This letter went on to state that she had drawn a lucky number, and won a prize of $45, 000 US dollars and a "romantic cruise for two to the Caribbean on "INTREPID OCEAN LINEAR! " The letter was signed by IRENE KOHL.
Also inside this letter was a check written out for $2851.15 from ROOTBLAST INTERNATIONAL, INC from Canton, OH. This, my mother and I both swore was a "real check" with the artificial watermarks on the back. I called the number at the bottom of the letter, 1-450-209-0191, and asked to speak to PETER COTT or CAROL HEINZ. I got to speak to Peter at 9:00 pm EST and he congratulated me over and over about winning the prize that "only 8 people in the US had won." When I asked him where he got my, actually my sister's, information he stated that it was from an internet contest that she had signed up for.
"PETER" then instructed me to cash this check, wait for it to clear, then withdrawal the money from the bank and WESTERN UNION $2651.15 to a CHRISTINE DANIELLE in PENNELLEVILLE, NY. The extra $200 in the check was to pay for the Western Union fees that would be charged for sending such a large amount. I told him that the check was written in my maiden name and that may be a problem to cash it. He assured me that as long as I had my birth certificate that it would be okay to cash it.
I asked for a number to speak to Christine and he said he wasn't authorized to give out her cell phone number, but I could call the office number anytime and any agent there could help me. He then said, after the money was sent to CHRISTINE in PENNELLEVILLE, NY they would get my new address and my married name to send the remaining check for $42, 148.85 and (2) cruise line tickets. These prizes would be delivered to me personally by CHRISTINE and a courier as long as I had a picture ID available. He also told me to make sure I had the "official letter" with me because it had a barcode on the bottom that had to be scanned before I could accept the prize. Another clue to me is that he said I woudld have to sign a "tax exemption form" claiming this prize was tax exempt, which per the IRS, any prize over $600 must be claimed on your income taxes.
"PETER" was talking very fast and had a very thick accent, almost Middle Eastern sounding. My suspicions were on high alert with this so I asked him if this was some kind of internet scam and he assured me over and over again that this was legit and they were not running a scam. After the phone call with "PETER" I called my sister in North Carolina and asked her if she was aware of any contest she entered, which of course, four years ago, in her maiden name, she could have entered any contest, but why four years later would she have won. Of course, my sister was excited about the prospect of a huge prize like that, who wouldn't be, but mom and I were still skeptical of it. I told my sister I would call again tomorrow to make sure all the answers to my questions were the same from today.
To the internet I went as fast as I could. I searched for BellAir Direct... nothing! I searched for Intrepid Ocean Linear... nothing. The cruise thing is what got me. I am going on a cruise in March and with all the researching on cruise lines that I did, not once did I come across that cruise line name. Trust me, I did plenty of research for our trip. I searched for Rootblast International, Inc in Canton, Ohio... nothing. The check was drawn on a Bank One, NA check from Columbus, Ohio. Bank One branches were changed to Chase Bank a while back. Maybe not all, but the ones in Michigan where I live sure were. I have an account with them. Another thing funny about the check is that the street name was not spelled correctly. The check was signed, actually stamped, by a LARRY P. KELLEY
So here I find two articles about a Liberty Financial Services and after reading them I see that the set up is pretty much the same, almost identical in format. My mom and I watch Chris Hanson from Dateline NBC and she's learned a few things. If you win a legitimate prize, you are NEVER asked to send money back to the company to collect your prize. Please beware of this company and rest assured Chris Hanson will get a copy of all documents received.
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