Steen, Hamilton & Associates Mary Steen Consumers Clearing House Sweepstakes Scam New York New York

I received a phone call from a gentleman with a foreign accent indicating that he was from the law firm of Steen, Hamilton & Associates out of New York, and that he was calling with the news that I had won the 2nd prize in the Consumers Clearng House Sweepstakes and that I would be receiving a check for $500,000. I was then transferred to, "Ms. Mary Steen," who claimed to be a senior attorney for this same law firm. Ms. Steen wanted to provide me with all the details of my fantastic sweepstakes win. She talked about a lot of things but eventually came to the discussion on the taxes due from this half a million dollar sweepstakes win. According to Ms. Steen, the normal taxes due were in excess of $200,000, however, she had been involved in days or negotiations on my behalf and had managed to decrease the taxes due to only $65,000. Ms. Steen advised me that I needed to pay 10% of this amount and that after doing so and paying the $6500, I would be receiving my $500,000 check by special courier, next Tuesday. At this point I advised Ms Steen that I was reading a ripoff report on the internet about this exact same scam at that very moment, and recognizing that this was a veriation of the Nigerian Banking scheme, I was hanging up. It should be noted that this was actually the 3rd time, in approximately a week, that I had received a call from this alleged law firm. On the previous two occasions, when I had started asking questions, the caller had hung un on me. Trying to call the nember back, either the number would not ring through, or I received a message that the number was not in service.