Royal British Lotto, Gateway Financial Management Group Intervest Construction, ripoff, dishonest, lottery scam Winnipeg,Toronto Ontario
On Sept. 25, 2006, I received a letter with the following heading:
ROYAL BRITISH LOTTO
BRITISH RANDOM DRAWS
AWARD CERTIFICATE
The letter states that I "emerged as one of the winners of the British Random Draws International. Participants were selected through a computer ballot system draw from one million two hundred thousand names (1,200,000) drawn from Asia, Europe and North America."
The letter further states that I "have therefore been approved for the lump sum of $115,000.00 USD. This is from a total cash prize of $2,450,500.00 USD shared among (twenty-three) international winners..."
Enclosed in this letter was a check from 'Intervest Construction, Inc.' drawn on Wachovia Bank, in the amount of $2,996.50. The letter states that this check "is enclosed to enable you finance the international clearance fees of $2,848.70. Your clearance fee should be remitted to our designated North American Agent. Consequently, you will receive a total of $115,500.00 minus $7,854.00 (6.8% Sponsor's Commission). Your agent will give you further details."
Lastly, the letter's instructions state, "To begin your lottery claim, contact your claim agent, JOHN ADAMS, of Gateway Financial Management Group at 1808 SPENCER AVE., STE 204, WINNIPEG, MB R3H 0G3, an accredited agency to BRITISH RANDOM LOTTO at TEL: 1-204-952-2048. Note that all prize money must be claimed no later than OCTOBER 9, 2006. Ensure you contact your agent for the ACTIVATION AND AUTHORISATION of your check."
I did call John Adams, who instructed me to deposit the check that was enclosed in the letter. He further stated that once this check cleared, I was to send a check in the amount of $2,848.80, via Western Union or Money Gram, to Susan Dale at 2055 Jane St., Toronto, Ontario H2B#1L#4. I would then receive a confirmation number from Western Union or Money Gram. I would then need to call John Adams and give him the confirmation number, which would then authorize John Adams to release my check in the amount of $115,500.00.
I deposited the check into my Checking Account on September 29, 2006. On September 30, 2006, I received a phone call from John Adams, asking me if I had deposited the check. I told him that I had just deposited it that day. After I hung up, I then started to become suspicious. I called my bank on Monday, October 2, 2006 and asked if the check that I had deposited on September 29, 2006 (in the amount of $2,996.50) had cleared. I was informed that the check had indeed cleared. I then became confused about this and then decided to do some research on the internet. And, this is where I am, currently.
I don't know what I should do next. Are my finances in any danger at this point? Should I close my accounts? I hope that I am not too late.
I would greatly appreciate any help that you can offer me.
Thank You,
Brenda Cavallero
Brenda
ASton, Pennsylvania
U.S.A.
13 Updates & Rebuttals
Kevin
Salinas,California,
U.S.A.
Feeling stupid
#14Consumer Comment
Tue, January 02, 2007
Did you ever get this resolved? I did the same thing you did. Now I'm at the point where I did send them the money order. I called the bank and they said the check did clear. What should I do. Should I close my bank account? Does it matter? Should I talk to the manager of my bank? Doesn't the bank have a way of verifying a check before they draw funds on it?
Kevin
Salinas,California,
U.S.A.
Feeling stupid
#14Consumer Comment
Tue, January 02, 2007
Did you ever get this resolved? I did the same thing you did. Now I'm at the point where I did send them the money order. I called the bank and they said the check did clear. What should I do. Should I close my bank account? Does it matter? Should I talk to the manager of my bank? Doesn't the bank have a way of verifying a check before they draw funds on it?
Kevin
Salinas,California,
U.S.A.
Feeling stupid
#14Consumer Comment
Tue, January 02, 2007
Did you ever get this resolved? I did the same thing you did. Now I'm at the point where I did send them the money order. I called the bank and they said the check did clear. What should I do. Should I close my bank account? Does it matter? Should I talk to the manager of my bank? Doesn't the bank have a way of verifying a check before they draw funds on it?
Debra
St Cloud,Florida,
U.S.A.
Contact FBI
#14Consumer Suggestion
Sat, October 07, 2006
Go to fbi.gov You can file a complaint there. If it was through email, they will want all email addresses of the scammers you have.
Larry
Jacksonville,Florida,
U.S.A.
Someone sends you a check...
#14Consumer Suggestion
Sat, October 07, 2006
... a natural reaction is to cash it. Don't feel bad. I work at a medium sized credit union and you'd be amazed at how many of these we see. So many that we have trained all of our tellers to be on the lookout for them and inform the members of the risks.
Caution is a good thing and you might want to open a new account but the chances that the check ever made it back to the scammers are pretty small. They tend to fake checks from real companies and financial institutions so it will go to the originating bank who will return it as fake. They just take a long time to work their way through the system. The only thing the scammers want is the money you wire to them.
One way to verify a cashier's check is to call the institution it's drawn against and give them the numbers on it. They should be able to look it up and tell you if it's real or not.
Ashley
Bradenton,Florida,
U.S.A.
Scam.
#14Consumer Suggestion
Sat, October 07, 2006
This is definitely a scam.Close the account and put the extra money aside to pay back when this comes back as fraudulent.Open a new account at a DIFFERENT BANK.Tell your bank what you think happened and ask them how to handle it.
The check is either totally fake or the scammers used some innocent person's checking acct. info.
This can make it clear until the innocent person realizes the fraud and complains.
Next,file complaints with the RCMP,the FTC,the Ontario Provincial Police,PhoneBusters,the Pennsylvania Attorney General,the Ontario Ministry of Consumer and Commercial Relations and the US Postal Inspection Service.
You might just be able to catch these scammers.
This is similar to the advance fee loan scam.See reports under names like Pinnacle,Fairmont,First Union,Treasury etc.
Check the FTCs website and the website for the RCMP.Also Google:Lotto scam and Advance fee loan scam.
Brenda
ASton,Pennsylvania,
U.S.A.
I must be more naive than I thought I was
#14Author of original report
Sat, October 07, 2006
Hi,
Thank you for the information and suggestion. I feel so stupid for falling for this scam. I must be more naive than I thought I was. :-)
Larry
Jacksonville,Florida,
U.S.A.
It's a Scam
#14Consumer Suggestion
Fri, October 06, 2006
First of all it is ILLEGAL for an American citizen to accept money from a foreign lottery in the United States. If you win the Irish Sweepstakes you can go to Ireland and claim your money, but they cannot send it to you here.
Secondly, if in any financial transaction with people you do not know personally, anyone mentions wiring money anywhere, IT'S A SCAM.
The check is counterfeit. You can buy check stock at Office Depot and anyone with a laser printer can make a pretty convincing cashier's check. If you deposti that check the bank must make the funds available to you within a few days by federal law. The check can take several weeks to come back as a fake and you will be responsible for paying back the money to the bank.
The rep you spoke to may have said that the check cleared, but I guarantee you it has not, the funds are simply available. It can take as long as six weeks for a cashier's check to actually "clear".
The next time Mr. Adams calls you tell him your bank said the check was fake, and see what he says.
Brenda
ASton,Pennsylvania,
U.S.A.
Royal British Lotto - Update to Deposited Check
#14Author of original report
Fri, October 06, 2006
Hi,
I notified my bank about my recent deposit of $2,996.50 into my checking account and explained that I had just learned that this was a scam. They then checked into this deposited check and told me that the funds had cleared and were in my account. However, they did tell me that to be on the safe side, I should close this account, (in case the people behind this scam had been able to obtain my bank account numbers). I was also instructed to just sit on this check for another two weeks. I'm still very confused about all of this. I don't understand why the check cleared if this is a scam. So, I guess for now I'll just sit and wait to see what happens. (I am going to close this account in the meantime).
If anyone has any other suggestions or information, please let me know.
Thank You,
Brenda
Aston, PA
Kim
DAYTON,Ohio,
U.S.A.
BRITISH RANDOM LOTTO
#14Consumer Comment
Wed, October 04, 2006
I recieved a similar letter today and a check for 2997.35. however the check for my letter was from masco contractor services west, inc. i called the company which runs out of daytona beach florida to find out if this was a scam or not. i haven't done anything with the check yet but i am curious how yours will turn out.. could you keep me posted. thanks
kim
dayton, ohio
Kim
DAYTON,Ohio,
U.S.A.
BRITISH RANDOM LOTTO
#14Consumer Comment
Wed, October 04, 2006
I recieved a similar letter today and a check for 2997.35. however the check for my letter was from masco contractor services west, inc. i called the company which runs out of daytona beach florida to find out if this was a scam or not. i haven't done anything with the check yet but i am curious how yours will turn out.. could you keep me posted. thanks
kim
dayton, ohio
Kim
DAYTON,Ohio,
U.S.A.
BRITISH RANDOM LOTTO
#14Consumer Comment
Wed, October 04, 2006
I recieved a similar letter today and a check for 2997.35. however the check for my letter was from masco contractor services west, inc. i called the company which runs out of daytona beach florida to find out if this was a scam or not. i haven't done anything with the check yet but i am curious how yours will turn out.. could you keep me posted. thanks
kim
dayton, ohio
Kim
DAYTON,Ohio,
U.S.A.
BRITISH RANDOM LOTTO
#14Consumer Comment
Wed, October 04, 2006
I recieved a similar letter today and a check for 2997.35. however the check for my letter was from masco contractor services west, inc. i called the company which runs out of daytona beach florida to find out if this was a scam or not. i haven't done anything with the check yet but i am curious how yours will turn out.. could you keep me posted. thanks
kim
dayton, ohio