I received a letter today saying entitled "Winning Final Notification". It states "we are pleased to inform you that you are one of the declared winners of shoppers sweepstakes lottery held on october 30th 2009 in the 2nd category."
They sent me an actual check in which i found very convincing for $3,875. Reading on in the letter they state "The sole purpose for this first check is for the payment of applicable government taxes on your big winnings."
The letter then instructs you to send $2,875 via western union directly to the tax agent. What tax agent? Where are the long tax forms that you ALWAYS have to fill out when dealing with the government?
They also instruct you to keep this winning "confidential" until the claim has been processed. They want you to call you claims agent: Jeff Nelson right away. I called and it seemed a little fishy. They told me to call back in 15 minutes. What company tells you to do that? the phone number they gave was 1-416-854-8913.
Hope this helps other people who are just receiving this letter.