My husband received a letter in the mail. First tip that it might not be legitimate, there was no return address on the envelope. Then, the form letter didn't have his name on it, it was addressed "Sir/Madam". It proceeds to state that he has been declared a winner of the North American Sweepstakes held on April 28 in the 2nd category (whatever that means), Ticket serial no. 76063580 which drew the lucky winning number 8507752.
Supposedly they had tried unsucessfully to contact him regarding his winnings of $100, 000. In accordance with their disbursement policy, his claim number was assigned to their North American Claims Affiliate. To expedite processing they enclosed a check for $4, 900 to enable him to pay the applicable government taxes (which are only $3, 900). The $3, 900 must be paid by Moneygram or Western Union directly to the tax agent. When the winning is processed, he would supposedly receive his final check in a lump sum payment of $95, 100 delivered by UPS. The last sentence of the letter states do no attempt to use this check until you call, which you must do within 5 business days and speak with Mr. Tom James at 1-905-598-3976 (claim agent). I goggled the name of the bank the check was drawn on. It is a legitimate bank, but there are enough things that were just "off" about the whole thing, that I googled the name of the company that check was paid from, and come up with a hit on this website for ripoffs. I already figured it was, but appreciate the confirmation without me having to call the bank and go through all that process. I do plan on returning the check and letter to them and advise they take action on these scam artists.
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