They say nothing in life is free – especially money.
Fort Wayne Police have received numerous reports of scams in the last month where people are sent checks in the mail with letters claiming they’ve won money through a complicated series of events. The victims are asked to deposit the checks and contact the law firm listed to send it money. Those who do are told later the checks are bogus.
“Don’t fall for any of them,” Fort Wayne Police spokesman Michael Joyner said.
According to Joyner, the following is just a small selection of the scams police know are out there:
♦ According to published reports, a letter from the Law Office of Debrovsky & White has turned up recently in Goshen as well as Rockton, Ill. This past week, a Fort Wayne woman got it in the mail.
It says court evidence shows the receiver may have been a victim of a fraud and is part of a class-action lawsuit. It’s prohibited to disclose the name of the corporation involved in this fraud, the letter states, but that corporation reached an out of court settlement on the lawsuit and the receiver is to get $129,000. The writers of the letter added a court case number, a semi-professional letterhead and stamped “URGENT” in the corner to make it look legitimate.
But the receiver must take the check – in the Fort Wayne woman’s case, for $2,975 – enclosed with the letter to be used for “financial assistance” in settling any court payments involved in the lawsuit so the $129,000 can be released. The receiver is to then call the law firm for more instructions on where to send the money, and is to talk to no other law firms, bank representatives or financial advisors.
♦ A Fort Wayne man received a letter stating he won $62,980, but first he had to deposit a cashier check for $2,980 into his bank account. Then he had to call a number for a financial institution in the Bahamas allegedly sponsored by Readers Digest and Publishers Clearing House. He deposited the check and made the call. The person on the other end began to ask for more money and the man knew it was a scam.
♦ A Canadian gaming service sent one man a check for $2,355 with a letter stating he had won a lottery. The man had to cash the check to pay taxes on winnings of $7,854. After cashing the check, his bank called later to tell him it was counterfeit.
♦ A letter from a South African man named Edward Mbano states the recipient can inherit 35 percent of a $15 million fortune left by a mining tycoon who died in the late 1980s. Why? Because the recipient and the tycoon share the exact same name, and an extensive search for the tycoon’s family has turned up nothing. A Fort Wayne man received this letter recently.
According to the letter, it’s a way for Mbano and his colleagues to gather up the remaining 65 percent of the fortune. They are basically hiring the recipient so when the money is drawn out it cannot be traced to Mbano. The recipient is then given an e-mail address and international phone number to contact Mbano.
Original story: http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/news/local/16427105.htm
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