Complaint Review: Applegate Securities Inc.

Yesterday I received a letter from the above referenced company. Like many others, it said I had won $250,000 and enclosed a check for $4995 to cover the cost of government taxes on my winnings. The taxes were listed as $2995 and were to be sent via MONEYGRAM or WESTERN UNION. I was not to do anything with the check until I called Bob Morris at the listed number. The letter was signed by Mary Long.

The first thing I did was to a reverse phone number lookup. The number was a Canadian phone number with no information available.

Secondly I called the state Attorney General's office where I live and gave them an over view of the letter. They told me it was fraud, which I knew, and to shred the letter and check.

Not feeling that shredding it and being done was the right thing to do, I looked up the phone number for the bank the check was supposedly drawn on, Boston Private Bank and Trust in Wellesley, MA. I called and gave them the same brief over view.

The lady was very nice and agreed it was fraud, a form of the Nigerian scheme she said. She said they were aware of it and thanked me for calling. I asked if there was anything else I could do to help and she requested that I mail her the check and letter so their fraud department could look it over. I was more than glad to do that. She gave me the bank's mailing address, all of which matched the information I got from the reverse look up. I'll mail it out today.

Lastly, I did an Internet search and found this site and many other complaints about this company and scheme. So now I am filing a report as well, hoping that these frauds won't bilk any unknowing person out of their hard earned money.

I would encourage anyone that receives this type of scam to report it not only here but also at least to the bank that is being defrauded. All we can do to help bring these scammers to justice is pass on the info to the right folks. And we should do just that.

Greg
Ona, West Virginia
U.S.A.