I received a letter as follows:
Goodwill Financial Group
5020 Airport Rd.
Halifax, Nova Scotia
Canada, A5C3X6
TELL; 1-778-858-0428
07/11/2007
REF. NO. MV-019-4526-RF
FINAL NOTICE
We are pleased to inform you that you are one of the winners in the second category international Sweepstake Draw held on March 16th, 2007.
Your ENTRY SLIP with serial number 3874501 drew the lucky winning numbers 22-87-76-44-24.
You are entitled to the sum of US $490, 000. Payable to you by CERTIFIED CHECK, and will be delivered to you by our special courier company.
You are therefore advised to contact your assigned claims agent:
WILLIAM BOND @ 1-778-858-0428
Monday to Friday 10am... To... 730pm, SAT. 10am... To... 2pm for further instructions on how to claim your big winning.
Enclosed is a check of US $4889.00 which you will use to pay the Non Resident Government Service Tax (GST), payable to your tax agent by MONEYGRAM as stated below.
TAX AGENT: CARLOS A. SEWELL
234 7TH AVENUE
Halifax, Nova Scotia
CANADA
TAX AMOUNT; $2, 875.00 us dollars
PAYMENT METHOD: Money Gram
NOTE: Please do not act on this notice until you contact your CLAIM agent who will advice you on how to claim your winning.
(signature of J% Garfield)
Michael Charles (Promotions Manager)
(stamp APPROVED) (stamp FINAL NOTICE)
The check, which is a very real check (I doubt it would clear if I tried to deposit it though) was written from the company Tampa Cargo P.O.Box 524235 Miami, FL 23152 and was written out of Wachovia Bank 18601 Nw 27th Ave. Miami, FL 33056-3192 and signed by a Dwight (last name unclear).
I was very skeptical as I do not shop at Goodwill, have never heard of their sweepstakes, and the letter itself is on plain white paper and appears to have been typed in MSWord with the company title added using WordArt. I attempted to look up Goodwill Financial Group thinking maybe I had entered through an online site, as I do with PCH entries, but was unable to get a hit.
I called my "claims agent" and was directed to leave my letter at home ("you don't want them to know about your winnings") and deposit the check in my bank account. That was just another RED FLAG! I know of this scam, they want you to deposit the check in your account, send them a Money Gram, and then one of two things will happen: either the check never clears and your are out thousands of dollars (if you had enough in your account to cover the check to begin with) or the check will clear, making the scam appear legit, then you send the money and they cancel the check still leaving you out thousands of dollars.
DO NOT ATTEMPT TO CASH THIS CHECK. If you want to do so because you think it may be real, I advise you DO NOT deposit this check into your normal account, create a new account (they can trace your account & routing numbers) and wait at least 1 month before you do anything. DON'T BE FOOLED! If you really won a sweepstakes drawing, the taxes are automatically deducted from your winnings, even if the sweepstakes is international.
Modern technology has made the majority of our lives much easier, but it has become the greatest foe our finances and credit scores will ever meet.
0 comments