A fabricated financial institution sent me a letter and a fraudulant check. The letter was postmarked from Canada but the fake letter head said Phoenix Financials -a Division of Phoenix P. Company, 55 Container Dr. Terryville, CT 06786. The letter was addressed to my wife Sandy L Reynolds. It was dated September 3, 2008 and had a reference number on it of "Ref #SWF/888/WD.
The body of the letter read as follows:
We are pleased to inform you through this letter that our network shows you as the lucky winner of an unclaimed price money in the amount of One Hundred Thousand Dollars(100,000.00) in United States Funds. The system indicates that your name was randomly selected through a computerized ballot system as a winner for the SECOND QUARTER of 2008 Sweepstake draw. Congratulations!!!
All participants were selected through a computerized ballot system drawn from Readers Digest, Publishers Clearing House, Online Sweepstakes, Internet Games etc.....
Enclosed, is a check for ($3,989.45) which covers both the 3.6% administrative taxes and Clearance fees of your winnings. For authorization and activation of this check, please contact your agent Sean Peter or Susane Robinson immediately at Tel:1-647-878-0934 Your winnings must be claimed not later than September, 15 2008.
Your name is attached to claim Number US/CA/ZDS55-00G. We advise, you keep your claim number confidentially secured until your claim is processed and Funds remitted, as this is part of our security protocol.
Please, remember to quote your Reference Number in all correspondence with us in other to avoid unnecessary delays. Congratulation again from our staff and sponsors.
Signed Rita Howell
Claim Specialist
Phoenix Financial
I know that there are several type-o's in this letter. I wrote it verbatum.
It was relatively easy to find out that the check was not valid by calling the bank on the check to find out that it neither existed or it had been renamed. When I followed the instructions of the letter by calling the number, this was a cell number (looked it up on 411.com). They sounded legit. I hung up and started my research to find that it was a scam. I called them back for some confrontation and as soon as they knew that you were on to them, they hang up on you.
I didn't understand the scam until I did more research. When you call and talk to them, They tell you to deposit the check and call them back. Of Course the check is not valid, and if you deposited it, you would get a bad check charge to your account. When you call them back to say that you deposited the check, they tell you to write them a check for that amount of money and send it to them. They may ask for money order, etc. They hope to get the money before you discover that the check that they sent was bogus. They may also capture valuable checking account info to make other draws on your account.
Scott
Gulf Shores, Alabama
U.S.A.