this woman who claimed to be lisa harrison with a foreign accent called and said she was with the federal trade commission and comsumer response protection agency. she called me by my name and asked if i had recieved anything in the mail about winning a 2nd place prize. i told her no and she stated i had won $350,000.00... yeah right ...she went on with this big spill and then stated that i needed to pay the one percent tax free tax of $3,500.00. huh !!!! she then satated it would be delivered tomorrow by special courier around noon and the check would be from bank of america... but i needed to call 718-285-8838 which is a number to lloyds of london and give this claim number...okeedokeeee. so she congragulated me and i hang up and start lookin phone numbers up on the internet and the number she called me from was a nextel cell phone.. oh my lord.... and she thought i was stupid...what an idiot.....so now i am contacting all these agency's and letting them know.... i guess if i do get a check tomorrow i'l let ya'll know....but in the mean time ya'll have a good time with these idiots and ya'll really screw with their heads.... by the way when i called the supposed lloyds of london number a guy with a foreign accent answered and i gave him the claim number and he said let me put you thru to claims please hold and i sat there for a few mins and he came on the phone and said claims department and i said ain't you the same guy that just answered the phone and u work in claims to and he immediately put me on hold again and would not get back on the line cause i held for 9 mins on that one .... what an idiot.... and he thought i was an idiot..... i hope these people rot in hell.....
the 1st red flag was the reference to the Federal Trade Commission.
the government does not make calls like this - not even for legitimate lotteries and sweepstakes.
the 2nd red flag was telling you had to pay taxes to receive the winnings.
Legitimate lotteries and sweepstakes take the taxes and fees from the winnings first, then send you the rest. All the while reporting this income to the IRS..
I received a message from "Karen Grahm," she said she was from the Federal Trade Commission, and that I won 2nd place in a Sweepstakes, and to call 202-391-0982 if I wanted to claim my prize. I called the number the next morning and the phone rang until it said to leave a message. I called back two more times until a hispanic man answered. He asked for my name and phone nmumber and that "Karen" wasn't going to be in for 45 min, and that she would call me back. I asked if it was a farce, he started to fumble all over his words, "this was a consumer response agency, and to make sure to check my called ID, and that no international numbers were calling me. What a JOKE!!!!!