Payment Verification Center Sweepstakes winnings Calgary Alberta

I received a letter saying I won $248,000 along with a check for $4,985. The check appears on an Activision account. The letter said to contact them, cash the check, and they would send me info on where to wire $3,975 of it for tax purposes. It is a valid-looking check. I called the IRS; the person I spoke to said it could be a valid account with a forged signature and that typically banks don't verify the signature until weeks or months later. If that happened, you'd be out the money you thought you had deposited.....

Pat
Yellowstone NP, Wyoming
U.S.A.