NORTH AMERICA HOLIDAY TRAVEL REWARD PROMOTIONS LOTTERY PROGRAM Fake check looked real, Halifax Nova Scotia

I received a letter dated September 28, 2007. It was on company letterhead. (BTW, this might be a real company whose letterhead stationery was copied or ripped off. There is no text in the letter that actually links this bogus offer to the company on the letterhead.)

This report is virtually identical to other reports against the NORTH AMERICA TRAVEL REWARD PROMOTIONS/LOTTERY PROGRAM. In the letter, they cite a ticket number (never bought), a Reference Number, and an implausible story that participants were selected through a ballot system drawn from Readers' Digest and Publishers' Clearing House databases. I am to win $28,500 in cash and a holiday cruise.

It seems that my holidays begin with a 6 day and 5 night "all-inclusive round-trip cruise to the Caribbean" aboard "Intrepid Ocean Liner," -- you know, it's really hard not to mock this letter as I type this-- where I can frolic with dolphins, ride horseback, and spend the day fishing.

The letter comes with a check that looks very real (with watermarks and microprinting -- however, under magnification, the microprinting merely reads "This is a genuine check."). But my warning systems went up when I noticed that it comes from Northrup Grumman Corporation. I'm wondering why an L.A.-based aerospace company would want to underwrite my vacation to the Caribbean with a check drawn against JPMorgan Chase bank in Syracuse, NY, on behalf of a financial institution in Nova Scotia.

The check is for $2953.32 and is meant to be deposited (as if it would clear!) and used as payment for "the service charge" and "international clearance fees". I am then to tell no one, for fear that a duplicate claim will void their kind offer, and then I'm to call Claims Manager Abraham Goodwill at 1-902-412-9177 to claim my prize.

I don't think so!

Allan
Ojai, California
U.S.A.