I received a letter dated 16 August 2007 (date printed as August 16TH 2007 - note capitalized TH and no comma, I found this a bit odd).
The letter claimed that the 'release of the Ecasino Gaming Sweepstake Lottery' which was held on 28 March 2007. My name had, so they say, been 'attached' to a winning ticket, number 320-3255-241 which 'consequently won in the 1st category of the draw'. I was to be awarded a lump sum payout of USD$68, 000.00
The letter instructed me to call a number in Ottawa, 24 to 48 hrs after I cashed the enclosed $3100 check. Strange, thought I. I've never entered a sweepstakes at Ecasino Gaming... never been to any internet gaming site. The letterhead had the following words under 'Time Universal Gaming': Lotto, Publishers Clearing House, Readers Digest, Sweepstakes & Internet Casino. At first glance it seemed strange to me as 'Publishers' should have had an apostrophe... also there were no spaces after the commas. Silly, but still strange.
So, on with my research I went. The bank on which the $3100 check was drawn wasn't a bank, actually. It was 'Travelers Express Company' in Minnesota (moneygram.com). Even *they* have alerts about this type of scam.
The $3100 check, at the lower left, has the word 'Purchaser:' and a line on which is typed: Joane Pencek. The signature is illegible.
What I've found is the scam appears to be this: The recipient is to cash the $3100 check, then call the 'claims agent'. I'm guessing that the 'claims agent' will then instruct the recipient to return some (most) of the money to cover costs of delivering the prize of $68K. Of course, the check received will likely bounce, leaving the recipient to pay back the money to their bank.
The scary part is that this didn't seem like a scam to me at first. But as always, I go with 'if it seems too good to be true, it probably is'.
Beware, all. This is a complex and well orchestrated scam, but a scam nonetheless.
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