Beware of receiving mail from a company name HeartFord Group Inc. They claim that you have won a home improvement grant and that your home improvement grant of $39,000.00 was deposited into an escrow account pending claim.
Then they go on to say that grants were also awarded to a short list of candidates randomly selected from Readers Digest and Publisher's Clearing House databases. They inform you that this is their final attempt to settle the aged claim. They enclose a check for $3,970.00 which is suppose to be a deduction from your total Grant amount of $39,000.00. Then they tell yo to call this number which is 1-289-892-4354 between 8:30am to 10:00pm eastern time, Monday-Saturday to tell them your claim number. I called that number several times and it keep on saying the mailbox is full. So I tried again and finally the answering service was able to get my message that I left giving them my name my claim number and which option I would like to choose. I told them to call me back, to make sure I had the correct address to send them the money for taxes, which they never did call me back. Every time I called the answering service always said that the representatives had a high volume of calls and to leave a message and they will call you back. I never received a call.
Needless to say I cashed the check the last part of July 2008 because the cash place I took it to did all the necessary verifications that they are required to do and they cashed the check. Well just yesterday (August 8, 2008) I get a call from a woman from the main head quarters of the check cashing place where I cashed the check and she told me that it was a fraudulent check. I had no idea. Supposedly when I took the check to cash it they did all the necessary verifications to see if the check could get cashed and they let me cash it.
Now that I know it is a fraudulent check I filed a report with the Dayton, Ohio police department to let them know of the scam that is going on. So BEWARE!! If it sounds too good to be true, 9 times out of 10 it is a scam. The joke was on me. :0l
In the letter that I received with the check it had an important notice stating that the grant is a prize I won and how it is not a loan and does not require repayment and that I did not need to own a home to be eligible for the grant.
The letter also stated that I had until August 2, 2008 to claim my grant and how unlcaimed GRANTS will be cancelled by the sponors and the GRANT will be donated to local charities in the State/Province of residence of the recipient. The letter was signed by a Sheryl Ingrid.
On the back of the letter it had sponsors like Money Gram, GAP, McDonalds, Home Depot, BlockBuster, Sears, WalMart, Sunoco, StarBucks coffee, Exxon Mobil, Western Union, Best Buy, GE, Hitachi, Office Depot, Wendy's, GM, Panasonic, FWS, Costco, Microsoft, IBM, Apple, ADM, and Toshiba.
The next time I will make sure I do research on the company and call the Better Business Bureau before I cash another check. Please be careful and don't fall victim to this SCAM. I hope the LOSERS that are doing this SCAM get caught soon. I just wanted to make people aware and wanted to put this online for everyone to see. Be Careful and be on the look out for these CROOKS.
Lanette
DAYTON, Ohio
U.S.A.