Alliance Financial Group Alliance Financial Group lottery scam USA mega international sweepstakes from readers digest Saint John New Brunswick
I received a letter from Alliance Financial Group about a $250,000 lottery I supposedly won. The lottery is called "The mega international sweepstakes organized by the reader's digest magazines."
Inside the envelope along with the letter, was a check for $1350 dollars from "The Huntington National Bank" in Columbus Ohio.
The check is real, however it is to pay for "the mandated transit service tax". It then asks you to call the "United States payment office" to start your claims and activate the check.
It then says, "you will receive your fund $250,000.00 within 72 hours of receiving your transit service amount.
I knew it was a scam as soon as I opened the letter. They also misspelled a few words. I think this scam is to get your bank information and possibly your identity. So for those of you that receive this letter. Throw it in the trash.
John Doe
Richmond, Virginia
U.S.A.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
ReactorCore
Victoria,British Columbia,
Canada
Check is "real", huh?
#2
Wed, August 12, 2009
Can I ask you if you took it to a branch of the financial institution it's allegedly drawn on and get them to actually verify the authenticity of that check? I'll wager it is certainly not "legitimate paper".
Variations of this scam have been circulating for ages, and the "checks", at one point, were simply a type of account/deposit slip that one could get at any bank while waiting in the line for a teller. Nowadays, with laser printers that can make fake $50 bills, that method is probably passe, but a laser printer cannot duplicate many of the security features found on real checks.
They don't want your bank info, nor your identity... They simply want to profit at the expense of your credit rating by having you send them money that, on your end, never existed in the first place.
For anyone reading this rebuttal who hasn't (for whatever reason) run across this scam before, this is how it works:
This is a variation on the ''overpayment by check scam''.
Someone sends you a ''check'' (ultimately under any guise). Note how it's UNDER $5000. This is to stop red flags going up at the bank, who will hold any amount $5000 or greater. All these scams share this common trait.
You're asked to send back an amount, whatever it is, to cover ''taxes'' on the "winnings". A legitimate lottery of this type is NOT AUTHORIZED TO COLLECT TAXES IN THE NAME OF THE GOVERNMENT. That's for the tax department to do directly once the company/entity running the sweepstakes or lottery submits the proper, authorized paperwork regarding your winnings to the appropriate government entity.
A LEGITIMATE ''LOTTERY'' OR ''SWEEPSTAKES'' WILL NEVER REQUIRE YOU TO ''PAY'' TO COLLECT YOUR WINNINGS. It's illegal.
Note that you've usually been asked to render payment VIA WESTERN UNION TYPE SERVICE ONLY, which is done ot get around USPS fraud statutes, and that you have also likely been told in some variants of the scam to keep your ''winning'' HUSH HUSH. This is a HUGE tip off.
In the end, you are left with a WORTHLESS piece of paper that will not only pay the scammer, but leave you in big trouble with the bank, as they will demand, once the ''check'' (which is a forgery) doesn't clear after 7 - 14 days, and you will have to pay them back the entire amount PLUS any/all fees associated with hanging the bad paper on them.
Many times, common sense will prevent you from being taken advantage of... If it's a sweepstakes or lottery, for example, based in a specific location, have you ever been there? Have you ever patronized the establishment that claims you "won" a prize from them? If you're approached by a publication, such as Reader's Digest, have you ever even subscribed to them? If you've moved since your subscription and not renewed, how do they have your current address.... Put these things to the acid test in your head, and you'll soon find that things just don't add up.