Complaint Review: Merritt Financial - Fidelity International

I recieved a Winning Notification letter, headed with an audit number and I.D. number, with a letterhead titled Merritt Financial Inc. (in partnership with Fidelity International) and the address/phone in Toronto, Ont. The greeting was to Dear Sir/Madam. It stated that, "official results of international sweepstakes drawn in the UK, organized by Fidelity international lotto, s(S)lidecurcir awards and Heineken promotions (slidecurcir was NOT capitalized), in conjunction with the foundation of software products (F.S.P. also not capitalized.)", I was "randomly selected by the computer data base of the North-American department" and was a winner with others in the 10th category.

I would win $250,000 from a total of $87 million USD. This announcement was followed by a claim number and a winning number in text of another color, partly centered on the letter. Instructions regarding an enclosed check for $4,815 to pay $2,970 in taxes followed, stating that the balance would be issued after the taxes were paid, via a tax agent at all western union/money gram locations (none of this was capitalized). I was warned, in red, not to use the check until calling the claim agent, and was advised of business hours, (9am-8pm M-F, Sat, 10am-6pm EST).

The claim agent was Kart Lewis, the phone was 1-416-835-5753. Sheila Harris was signed as promotions director. (no caps on title of position). Sponsors were designated as a "consortium of corporations, the Intel g(G)roup (no colon, no G-cap), Microsoft, Wal-Mart, Sears, Toshiba, Ford, GM, etc.) It stated I was randomly selected from over 10 million names in North America and the United Kingdom. Logos for Visa and Mastercard and a barcode were at the bottom of the letter noting a US$509 million payout this year. I became suspicious due to the lack of proper capitalization, syntax and orthography of the letter. Centering of a logo, claim and winnining numbers, and several other things just did not seem formal enough.

Also, the lack of media publicity for such a large sum of money, and never having heard of this lotto or Slidecuciri before made me raise my alert level to orange. The logos for the credit cards were copied and pasted from some other page, and were minimized, rather obvious to a person who is well acquainted with doing such things on computers. The tax payment check, however, looked official, even having instructions for validating it with a color change on a microprint watermark paper in the right-hand corner.

The address of Merritt Financial on the check was different: 920 Westhill Blvd, Appleton WI, 54914, and Anchorbank, 2000 S. Memorial Dr. Appleton, WI, 54915-1277. I Googled all the firms and addresses, and did not come up with any exact matches. All this, and a lack of e-mail or website contacts, led me Googling more and finding this reporting site, which contained another report with the same/similar firms (Summit, rather than Merritt Financial), letter info (different contact names), winnings, check (for a slightly different amount of $4,980) and signature of Sheila Harris.

The report stated that the victim had consulted his/her bank and had found that the document was fraudulent. I also contacted my bank, and they gave me the same information, stating that the whole thing is a scam. I am fortunate to have encountered that report and I am now reporting a similar incident, and will, too, avoid being ripped off.

Mammyduck, Fresno Area, California
U.S.A.