My husband and I received a letter stating that he had won $56, 000 in unclaimed prize money. He had supposedly been selected through a computerized ballot system draw from Reader's Digest Publisher's Clearing House, Computer games and sweepstakes with database from several countries as part of an International Promotions Program!
The letter stated that the enclosed "Official Check" for $1, 900.00 was to be cashed. Then the claims agent was to be contacted on how much to be sent for processing fee. According to the letter the balance would be paid upon receipt of payment. A reference number was given, and instructions were to keep the number confidential to avoid a double claim, which would disqualify the participant.
My husband called the phone number listed in the letter and spoke with Linda Brown. She was very smooth and convincing with all answers to the questions he asked. He even mentioned to her that with all the scams and identity theft today he was trying to get information that would prove the claim to be true. Linda Brown assured him that it was all on the up and up, and that the check was good. Ms. Brown told him he must use a MoneyGram to send the money for processing fees back to her. She guaranteed him his check for $56, 000 would be brought to him by Federal Express the day after his money gram for the $1, 900 was received.
The envelope the letter and check came in had no return address, nor any identifiable markings. My husband and I talked for a long time on the possibility that this could be the real thing. He called Ms. Brown back and asked her if City Financial was a member of the Better Business Bureau and she said yes.
I decided to do a little Internet research, and could not find a City Financial listing either in the Better Business Bureau of Canada, nor the white pages listing. I did a reverse phone number search for the number in the letter, and found that it was either unlisted or unavailable. I looked up the bank the check was drawn on, and the name of the bank was set up differently than on the check. I then found canada-complaints.com that sounded so very similar, and one even stated word for word what the letter we received stated. Then we knew for sure that this was indeed a "Rip Off."
We don't want anyone to fall for this scam, especially hard working people who are struggling to meet ends every day. Always check out something like this that sounds too good to be true.
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