Complaint Review: GOLD RUSH SWEEPSTAKES PROGRAMS

i received a phone call on 10/13/2009 from a man named john williams congratulating me on being the grand prize winner of 10.5 million dollars and a new mercedes benz mclaren roadster. He also stated that i would receive $100,000 cash.

He told me,to receive my winnings, i would have to wire via western union to a man by the name of FOREST GIFFIN WHO IS IN PALM HARBOR, FL $8,000 to pay for the transfer fees and taxes on my winnings. I told mr williams that i didn't have that kind of money. He told me he would call his boss and see what he could do for me.

About 10 minutes later a man by the name of OMAR [he never revealed his last name] called me and said he was the director of the sweepstakes. He said he didn't want me to lose out on this opportunity and if i could come up with $2500. I told him that all i could muster up would be $1000 and that i was giving him my house pmt to cover the cost to do business with him.

He went on to say he understood and he would never take food off my table, that as soon as i wired the money to mr giffin and called mr williams with the control number from the wire transfer they would then release the check to me and i would get the initial money transfer back. And when we went to the bank and deposited my $10.5 million check into my bank then i could pay them the $8,000 fee. I asked him that if that is the case why couldn't he just come to my home and we could go to my bank together and deposit my winnings in my acct and i would pay him the fees then. He said that is was against company policy to do that.

I decided then that i was going to find out every little lie i could catch them in. But i was still drawn to chase the money. so after alot of inquiries on my part we came to a common ground of meeting them at the airport and taking them to my bank to transfer the funds into my acct. This was to take place today.  On 10/15/2009 John called me to let me know that he was in Alpine, TX delivering to another prize winner and that he would see me tomoorow and asked me if i had sent the money transfer yet. I told him that i hadn't done it yet because i wanted to see them face to face and then go take care of the trasfer. He was not happy and became very angry and said that they were going the extra mile for me and why am i giving them the run around. I told him that some of the procedures and things they were telling me was making me uncomfortable. That i was doing my best to protect me and my family from a scam. He once again told me he was a religious man and he would never hurt me or my family. he told me he would have OMAR call me and see what he could do for me.

5 minutes later OMAR called me to imform me trust him, that he and his company are on the up & up. He too is a religious man and he would never take food off my table, also going as far as saying he was telling me the truth, " I PROMISE ON MY DAUGHTER". he also told me he was flying out in the morning via the company jet" GOLD RUSH INT'L "

I was exhausted after all the hoops and inquires[called the BBB, they had no record of them]  i went to bed hoping that this story would have a happy ending. The morning of the 16th was here and i called john to find out were they were. He told me they were in schertz, i was pretty nervous at this point and i asked him were in schertz they were at. i would be more than happy to pick them up and we could conclude our business. He told me a resort that does not exist in my small town. when i told him that he responded with "i am new to this area and we are at the san antonio airport, which is 25 miles from my home. i asked him if there was anyone there that could verify were they were at and he said "yes there is a lady here that could tell you where we are" the lady proceded to tell me that there was a film crew and several men wearing black with black jackets that read Gold Rush int'l on the back. Well i started to get excited because Omar told me that they would be wearing that attire. Omar told me that mr. giffin [the man i was to wire the $1000 to ] wasn't working today. I was to wire the money to Alroy Hall in ST JAMES JAMAICA, WI., boy my mood changed  quickly. i decided to call the hotel were they said they were at and there was no record of either man or anyone registered under the company name. i then in turned called the airport to find out if a company jet with the name of GOLD RUSH INT'L landed this morning the gentleman informed me that there was no record of any flight and that he ran the company name on a website called [ripoffreport. com] and told me that they were a scam. I went to the website and plugged in the company name in the search block and wallah! there was GOLD RUSH INTERNATIONAL. I called Omar immediately and asked him why his company is on this website warning people that it is a scam. he told me that they were differnt people than the ones back then and things and business is different now. he asked me to please trust him.I told Omar that i wasn't comfortable with this change, he told me to wire the money to mr hall and not give the control number, but to call him when i did and he would come to my house and pick me up in my new mercedes benz and we would go to my bank and we would exchange the control number and check in front of one of my bank reps. That eased me and i decided to go for it. after i took out the $1000 from my acct and went to the western union office i noticed on the form that there was no place for a street address. well i wondered what  would happen if i decided not to follow thru with this transfer after i sent it [ remember i would have the control number] and they didn't show up. would i be able to get a refund. well i could get a refund, but it would take 45 days after western union received a written request. i told the western union clerk that i wanted to wire money to jamaica and she ask me if this was for a lottery or sweepstakes prize. i was like how did u know? she said that i wasn't the first one in the area to try and do this. she suggested to me to read the cover sheet, the help prevent consumer fraud! 1] are you sending money to claim lottery or prize winnings, or on a promise of receiving a large amt of money? 3] are you responding to an internet or phone offer that you aren't sure is honest? 4] are you sending money to someone you don't know or whose identity you can't verify?

after reading those questions and answering them honestly i didn't follow thru . i called Omar and told him that i couldn't go thru with the transfer because of all the warning signs that were in front of me. i also told him that the western union clerk would not allow me to send money to jamaica because of the scams that are generated from there. so he said that he would give me another persons name to wire the money to, i stopped him right there and told him that if i didn't meet with him face to face that i would not be willing to go any further. he asked me if i had a credit card and i told him no!! and he asked me if i would follow his directions to receive the money and i told him again that i wanted a face to face meeting and he asked me again if i would follow his directions, i again said no and he said fine sir have a nice day and he hung up.

I hope i didn't toss aside a great opportunity by standing my ground i guess i'll never know, but all i can say to anyone out there reading this please!!! be careful and ask plenty of questions and listen carefully for the slip ups cause they are there to catch if u listen carefully.