I open the mail for a small company. We have two gentlemen with the same last name so when I saw this piece from Canada with only "Mr." and the surname, I opened it as I normally would for the owner. Obviously it was intended for the other gentleman who is retired and of late has become very involved in entering contests...the kind where you are required to send money. I have been worried about this for several months as the sheer volume of mail our company now receives has become overwhelming. Today, over 50% of the mail received was from these phony contests, lottos, etc. I have read that once you start sending the initial "processing fee" of $9 or $12 or $20, they put you on what's called a "sucker list" and everyone get in on the act. Well, I believe it. This type of mail has increased ten fold in the short time I have been here. Fortunately the owner has been made aware of this situation and since this mail did not specify a first name, I feel OK providing it to him with copies of this website and other info. He will at least have the authority to report it now. I have been agonizing over this issue and am relieved at this turn of events that might allow taking action. This makes my blood boil, I am so angry to see how rampant these types of scams have become. And I used to work at a bank...this check is a really good forgery down to the MICR (magnetic ink character recognition) encoding along the bottom. The encoding came back to JPMorgan Chase in Columbus, OH. I called them with the info and they transferred me to their fraud department. Please look after your elderly parents and grandparents as they seem to be the ones primarily targeted.
BTW, my letter was from the office of Venessa Robert at TD Financial, Sun Tower, 1550 Bedford Highway Suite 410, Nova Scotia, B4A 1E6. Check for $8900 asking to send $4200 through Money Gram @ WalMart per instructions of assigned claim agent RON CLARK @ 1-416-857-6146. Check had bank name of Bank One Trust Company NA, Columbus, OH (didn't match the routing numbers) drawn on account of Sunmark Capital Corp, 635 Maryville Centre Drive, St. Louis, MO and dated 9/4/08.
I didn't receive a call, but I received a letter asking me to call. They also sent me a check for $3,500. They said that I won an Australian Sweepstakes for $250,000 and that the first check was sent to me so I can pay government taxes. I went to http://www.thelocalbbb.com/alerts/alerts.html?newsid=662&newstype=1 there is an article about a Scam from Canada and all the details. DON'T DEPOSIT THE CHECK, read the article on BBB first! Also, it is illegal for anyone in the US to participate in a Foreign lottery... FYI.
I work for a local bank in PA, the same thing happened to one of my customers. She received the letter and she did deposit it. Thankfully she did not spend the funds and the check was returned. She called the number and spoke to Ron Clark who does not sound American and said she just needed to get the check activated and then it would work. I called also and he would not give me any information and hung up on me. We see alot of these scams and most likely the phone number will be disconnected with in a few days. LOSERS!
Fortunately I know this is a scam but many people would not. I received a check for $3,900US drawn on LaSalle Bank N.A., Chicago, IL 60603, Acct # at bottom of check: 631972 071923022 5598880218. The payer of the check is "Zenith Financial Inc," 299 W. Houston St., NY NY 10014. The accompanying letter with the check was from International Award Presentation in Niagara Falls, Canada. The envelope did have a Canadian post mark. The letter stated that I was the second place winner of the Australian sweepstakes lottery program held on 7/2/2007, claim # ZM 2426-5834 C. Here is more from the letter:
"A ticket w/ serial # 674009...entitles you tot he sum of $250,000...will be delivered via FedEx. Enclosed is a check of $3,900 which was deducted from your winnings. You are required to use the money from this check to pay for the Government applicable taxes and insurance on your winning through Moneygram or Western Union...your claims attorney Ron Clark, 1 613 262 8146."
Just an FYI, I reported this to the US Federal Trade Commision and to econsumer.gov (a complaint database for the US FTC), and the US Postal Service for mail fraud. I will probably contact the bank that the check is written on, too.
I just received this letter claiming I too am one of the second cateogry winners in the Austrlian sweepstakes lottery program.
There was a check made out to me for the amount of $3900.00 from PHYLWAY INTERGRATED SERVICES Hibernatia National Bank.
After reading your previous comments, I will NOT deposit it.
Again, Ron Clark was the contact and he is clearly NOT LEGIT.
The number given is a cell phone in Ottowa.
I would like to contact the proper US gov agency to alert others....
I also have just received this letter claiming I too am one of the second cateogry winners in the Austrlian sweepstakes lottery program.
There was a check made out to me for the amount of $3900.00 from PHYLWAY INTERGRATED SERVICES Hibernatia National Bank.
After reading your previous comments, I will NOT deposit it.
Again, Ron Clark was the contact and he is clearly NOT LEGIT.
The number given is a cell phone in Ottowa.
The top of the paper says International Award Presentaion I should call Ron Clark at he number that is written and Sherry Miller is the so called president