Star Financial Group - North American Sweepstakes Lottery Scam Sweepstakes with Fake Check ripoff Toronto Ontario

An envelope without a return address arrived in my mailbox. The stamp indicated it was from Canada. The letter inside claimed that I had won the 2006 North American Sweepstakes Lottery. Supposedly, it was held on December 13, 2006 and I "won" in "the 2nd category". There was a "check" in the amount of $4,950.00 enclosed. The "check" is to "expedite the processing" of my supposed winnings.

Supposedly I "won" $550,000.00 and the expedited funds are to be used to pay the taxes on the winnings. It states the actual taxes amount to $2,950.00 which must be paid via Western Union or MoneyGram prior to the winnings being disbursed to me. Supposedly, this initial check was "deducted in advance" from my "winnings" so that I would have the funds necessary to "claim" my "sweepstakes prize".

The financial institution listed on the check is "Best Care Financial, Inc". A routing number of 125000105 appears on the check. A free routing number check shows this routing number is assigned to US Bank, NA--not Best Care Financial.

The letter assigns a claim agent named "Mr. Doug Smith" to me, and instructs me to call him at (905) 782-4652 prior to cashing/using the check. The letter was signed by a "Tim Michael--Promotion Manager"

The letter is fradulent as taxes owed on sweepstakes prizes are the responsibility of the winner AFTER the prize is claimed. A legitimate sweepstakes would not have requested the advance payment of the "taxes" supposedly owed. Checking the routing number given on the check affirmed for me that the sweepstakes was indeed bogus.

These people just wanted to extort money from people, by appealing to all of our desire to have more expendable income. (Thanks to Alicia who had previously reported on a similar scam (probably run by the same people) here on Rip-off Report.com)

Vicky
Hacienda Heights, California
U.S.A.