I be wary of calls from this number. They called and asked to confirm a lot of information about me, which I told them was all incorrect. I asked for a number to make a return call and they provided this number (the incoming call number was blocked). I hung up
A man with a very heavy accent called and said I had won a choice of 5 gifts due to a ballot that I had filled out on December 17, 2006. I asked where I filled the ballot out at and he replied a grocery store or a retail store located in Colorado. They said they were members of the BBB in New York. They wanted to verify my marital status, age and annual income as well as my mailing address. He then tranferred me to a man that spoke better English by the name of Alex Carter. Alex stated that my spouse and I needed to go to a nearby mall to claim our prize and to bring 2 copies of ID and one should be a photo ID. We would then fill out a gift claim form and give to the receptionist (AT Jason's Deli at the mall!) We would then go to a short ceremony with 10 other couples and then we would listen to their sponsors (Toshiba, Cadillac and some vaction companies) We would then have a refreshment session and then the final session we would draw a number and be assigned our prizes. He gave me 2 days and several differnet times that we could claim our prizes. I told him I needed to confirm with my spouse to see if I could get more info. He said he would call me back later that evening and he also gave me a number to call him back at to confirm our appointment which he at which was 718-534-4829. I tried the number and the mailbox was full. This is such a scam. You should do a fraud alert on your credit file if they call you because they have somehow got much of your personal information and they are trying to confirm that it's correct. You can also go to www.annualcreditreport.com to get copies of your credit report to see if there are any credit inquiries that you didn't authorize.
National Gifting Center - NY head office
Phone: 718.534.4829
Same story as the others, the first person on the phone had a heavy Indian
accent; when pressed for details from their company (I said, politely, that
I would not answer any questions until *they* answered mine), he transfered
me to his 'senior manager', who said his name was Mark Dennis. This second
person had also a light but hard to identify accent (someone else on this
site, who got called by them but from a different number, speculated it
could be Eastern European, I'd agree with that).
They said I'd filled a 'promotional ballot' on December 16 2006 (which I
don't recall doing, I never do these things). He said I needed to report to
this address:
VRM 549 Flatiron Blvd Suite E
Broomfield, CO 80021
And bring 2 pieces of photo ID with me, to claim one of 4 gifts:
1. Toshiba 32 in flat screen TV.
2. $2500 cash
3. 3 days/2night orlando/cancun
4. Lincoln navigator 2008.
He was trying to get me to confirm my income, and since I wouldn't answer
any questions, he said "remember to check the box that says Income >
4400/month, right? right?". Sleazy :) At that point I told him: "look, I
already told you I wouldn't answer *any* questions or confirm/deny *any*
information until I can cross-check your business with the NYC Better
Business Bureau". The moment I mentioned the BBB, the call got mysteriously
cut and he never called again. What a coincidence, heh?
In summary: stay away from anyone pretending to be from the "National
Gifting Center". Scam, pure and simple. Any legitimate business will be
*happy* to have you check their BBB references, these guys are just a
low-level scam either phishing for personal information for identity theft,
or to get people into pushy sales pitches for time shares and similar deals.
One way or another, stay away from them!
The old maxim applies: if it sounds too good to be true (gifts out of the
blue), it probably is!
I got the same call from NGC and the person said that i won something so i went there for checking purpose and you know what I got the prize also. That person was right coz I won a prize of 2500 $ cash.