I received by mail a letter from the Express Lottery Commission (Certificate of Award) Advising that I won $85, 500, minus the fees/taxes for this would come to approximately $80, 000.00 in winnings to me.
There was also a check for $1977.41, to cover the fees, which looked authentic. It even had the watermark, and I checked out the Company WF Taylor, Inc., who supposedly wrote the check, which is located in Fontana, California, whom I was told was my local sponsor. I called the number indicated in the letter, and was told to deposit the check and when it cleared the bank to give them a call back and they would explain what I needed to do next.
So after about 8 days or so, the funds cleared my bank, and I assumed the check was good. I called the man named Mike Connon at the number on the letter and he told me to wire the $1830, by Western Union, plus the fees, which was included in the original check to cover said fees to a NADIA MCDANIEL, who was the International Contact for the Lottery Commission in Canada. After wiring the money I was instructed to call them with the MTCN number, which I did. Mr. Connon then said, he would make arrangements to have my Winnings sent UPS. He said to call him back in about an hour to confirm they had received the fees. The phone number goes to a voice mail, which is now Full and there is no answer.
On October 31, 2006, I checked my bank account balance, only to find out that the bank had put a hold on my payroll direct deposit. I called my bank and they informed me that I had deposited a check that wasn't valid in the sum of $1977.41. I didn't understand this since it cleared the bank and they explained that they released the funds, but the bank where it was drawn advised them that the check wasn't any good. My bank kept my payroll deposit to cover this and I still owe approximatley $859.00, which will come out of my next direct deposit on November 15, 2006.
Is there anything I can do? Does my bank have any obligation for this? They said, it was my responsibilty and when I asked if they had a Fraud division or someone that could help me, I was told to call the local police to file a report. I ask you what are the local police going to do about a Canadian crime ring committing fraud?
I asked if I could report this to the United States Post Master, and was told by my bank that they couldn't do anything either, since ultimately when I deposited the check I took full responsibility.
HELP!!
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