Clearing & Forwarding Center Phony Check Scam Toronto Ontario Canada

I too received a check in the mail today in the amount of $4, 980.00. I immediatly called the number to find out which scam this was and ask them to remove me from thier list. (It is so obviously a fake check since the address contains a typo, the word "avenue" is spelled aenue.)

The same claims/disbursement agent was listed, a Ms. Julia Clark. She informed me that if I shopped at any of the following chains (Walmart, HEB, JC Penney's etc), that my information would have been forwarded to them. When I asked for the name of the company she worked for she replied "Clearing & Forwarding Center". But when I asked for her tax ID number so I could verify its existence she claimed she didn't have one!

I then asked her for the name of the "tax attorney" this money was supposed to be forwarded to and she replied that she could not give me the name as then her company would have a bunch of tax attorneys waiting for money that might not come and that her company would then be in trouble! This was not even a creative excuse!

I hung up (my number was blocked anyway) and proceeded to look up the address of the company from which this check was supposedly sent from. My check lists ARGO TURBOSERVE CORPORATION at 160 Chubb Aenue, Lyndhurst, NJ 70701. This company actually exists...well they have a website, could be the same scam artists I guess. But it has nothing to do with any of the chains of stores she rattled off during our short call.

I then called the bank from which the check was actually written from which is listed as JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. in Columbus Ohio. JPMorgan Chase doesn't even have a branch in Columbus, the only address they have in Ohio is in Cleveland!

I called thier customer service number to verify funds and was informed that ther was no such account number (as listed on the bottom of the check). The bank said to turn this check into my own bank so that they could internally verify funds. I will not be doing this obviously it is a scam.

I hope anyone else who receives this letter and FAKE CHECK is smart enough to check it out before just ripping a couple grand out of thier bank and sending it to these jokers. I am turning this letter in to the post office with copies to my bank, ASIS, and the police department in my town.

People like this never think they will be caught because people will either hand over the money or throw it away. Not today!

A.
Portland, Texas
U.S.A.