Clearing And Forwarding Center check scam Toronto Ontario

Following up on the earlier report on "Clearing and Forwarding Center", I got a similar letter this morning, the only change being that the payor was an Air Conditioning Company in San Diego, and the Bank was also in San Diego. I was intrigued, because I couldn't find anything that made the check invalid. At least until I googled them and found that they were real businesses, and the addresses were correct, Except the zip codes were wrong - for both of them. The Zips on the check pointed to another area a few miles away, where neither firm had a presence.

IANAL, but that seems to tread close to fraud. I contacted the bank, and they replied (within 5 minutes!) that this was indeed a lottery scam, and pointed me to FTC.GOV

Mike
Katy, Texas
U.S.A.