I just recieved a letter this morning from Alliance Financial Services Inc and a check for $4875.00. The letter informed me that I was one of the declared winners of DE_LOTTO AMERICAN SHOPPERS LOTTERY held on June 25th 2008.My total winnings was $125, 000. The letter gave me a claims number and a number to call. The phone number was suppose to be a direct line to Steve Collins, CLAIMS/DISBURSEMEBT AGENT. The letter also stated that taxes on the winnings was $2875.00 and was to be paid by Western Union or Money Gram directly to the tax agent.
The check looked very real. It was written on Gateway National Bank, St Louis, Mo. I called Steve Collins. He had a foreign accent. I was assured this was perfectly on the up and up. I was instructed to sign the check and deposit it in my checking account. I was to call him back as soon as I deposited the check for further instructions on where to send the tax money. I must confess that he me believing this was really true! Before he hung up he said something that made me feel this was a ripoff scam. Steve Collins told me that I could not say anything about this to ANYONE until all transactions were completed, to protect my privacy.
I decided to go online to check out out if ALLANICE FINANCIAL SERVICES INC was a real company. No such company could be found. I then checked out Gateway National Bank, there is a bank in St. Louis. Through further searches I came across this Rip off report. I felt so stupid for almost falling for this scam. I really would like for the goverment or Interpole to catch these people.
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