Imperial Platinum Winning or Scamming Midland Ontario, Canada

I too received a Check for $4890.00as a, "One of the declared winners of the SHOPPERS SWEEPSTAKES held on June 5th, 2008..." .

I called the number provided to speak with a Mr. Bob Morris, whose lack of business telephone ettiquette was immediately aparent. needless to say his name, "Bob Morris" was unbefitting of his rich bully voice heavily accented voice that I could only associate with a Banana Republic, Nigerian village Tyrant.

He ordered me to 1. go to the bank, deposit the check, the funds will clear immediately, which is a lie as any bank in the USA will not clear such huge checks immediately, unless covered by the depositors account balance. He then instructed that I take 2985.00 US Dollars and send through Money Gram or Western Union. Needless to say both agencies constantly warn against sending money related to such "blind promised winnings".

So it took me a while to figure how the scam works, but clearly 1. If you send the money by western Union they will pocket it. and 2. By the time the Bank querries and dries their check they will have the check information with your bank account, which they will attempt to Empy Out. By the time you realize you have been had, you are broke. Of course I am not depositing the bogus check. I will give it to my FBI friends and let them do what they can do if anything.

Why do I know its a fraud, there is no such thing as "blind winning" and if there is, you receive the full check and you pay Taxes to Uncle Sam not to the organization that issues the check. One day there willbe free lunch in America, but NOT Today.

Frank
Orange, New Jersey
U.S.A.