Hanover Global Financial Group Of Publishers Sweepstakes They sent me a $3,600 dollar check to cash and send a $2,900 fee to them to get the rest of my $195,000 winings Worester, Massachusetts

 I received a letter from Hanover Global Financial Group Of Publishers Sweepstakes reporting that I was a winner in the international promotions/prize sweepstakes lottery program. It was held September 2nd, 2010.  I had won the lottery prize in the third category for $195,000.00. The letter went on to say that they had tried to contact me by phone but were unable to reach me and that the purpose of the letter was to explain how to collect my cash prizze. In order to claim my prize I had to pay fees caculated in the amount of $2,970.00. They enclosed a real check for $3,670.20 andasked that I call to confirm receipt of the letter and check. The number they provided led to a "voice mailbox" I tried several tiumes to call and always got the voice mailbox.  I decided to cash the check and send the fee to the address on the letterhead so that I could collect my prize.  I took the check to a check cashing store and attempted to cash it. The check was from The Hanover American Insurance Company (a real company) drawn on an account at the Deutsche Bank TRUST Company Delaware Washington Delaware. The owner of the check cashing store looked the company up on the internet and called them to verify the check but the company could not verify me as the person to whom the check was written. They needed a claim number because payments are attached to claims. The owner who has known me for years sugested that I let him deposit the check and come back in 5 days to get my money when the check cleared.  The check turned out to be stolen. Since the owner knows me and I showed him the letter that came with the check, he did not report me to the police.  This is a scam that uses real checks so watch out, if I had a standard checking account I would have most likely deposited it and lost $3,670 when the bank returned the check and demanded payment and/or be involved in a police investigation of the stolen check.