Consumer Alert - Confidence Scam

An acquaintance recently received the following official looking letter, with a check enclosed, advising him he had won some sort of lottery...Please note: phrases written in italics inside parentheses are my personal comments.

McGraw Corp.
1802 Church Ave.
Brooklyn, New York, 11226

Dear: (Last name inaccurate, written by hand)

Congratulations on your success as one of the winners on Utilities draw held on Oct. 10, 2006. Participants were selected through a computer ballot system, drawn from 147,000 telephone and light bills of individuals who signed up for the services. Your ticket number: 8261, with serial number 583 emerged one of the winning tickets. You have therefore been awarded a lump sum pay out of $50,000.00 cash, which is the winning payout for the series. This is from the total price money of $25,234,000.00 shared among the winners.

Our firm has secured for you, the percentage surcharge to be paid as commission on your winning prize to the Lotto Regulatory Board, thereby saving you the trouble. The check for $3,958.00 enclosed, will (sic) covers the charges/fees required to be paid, prior to receiving your winning. Keep winning confidential until your prize money is received to avoid multiple (sic) claim.

Please call your payment coordinator Ms. Gladys Jones or John West at (403) 708-6491 as soon as you receive this notice to assist you in finalizing the payment process. Prize (sic) are redeemable not (sic) latter than Nov.18, 2006.

Yours truly,

Celina Reeds,
Manager

Against his wife's wishes, my friend actually called the number listed and spoke to a gentleman from the Caribbean area with a thick accent and poor English skills. That's when he called my office to find out more about this "letter."

I did some investigation by Googling some keywords from the mailing he faxed over. Turns out a Better Business Bureau in Washington State posted an item about an identical notice received by someone in their jurisdiction, which found that:
- The 403 area code is for Calgary, Alberta in Canada.
- The check is drawn from the supposed company's account, issued by "United Commercial Bank" of New York. This check is counterfeit.

The BBB also noted that, "While such bogus award notifications are running rampant nationally, the reason for the issuance of this warning, and for our concern over this one, is because it refers to your utility bill or signing up for a utility service, making this a 'tricky' pitch for some."

Pass on this information to all people you know. It could save them from getting a nasty surprise.