Complaint Review: Rite Aid Financial - Victoria British Columbia

Recieved a letter from RITE AID FINANCIAL, with an enclosed check for $3,885.84 and instructions. I phoned the number on the check and spoke with a Monica Taylor in Harrisburg, PA (who had a slight middle eastern or Hindi accent) Ms. Taylor instructed me to deposit the check and call her back when the funds were available. When I called her back I was then told to go to Western Union and send $1500 to Gail Price in Dauphin, Manitoba and then go to Wal-Mart and send a money grams for $2000 to Doris Koches in Cambria Heights, NY.

I was to then to call Ms. Taylor, give her the reciept number from both Western Union and Money gram. I did as instructed and then called back and spoke with a Sherry Bentley was told the the next day between 9am and 1pm, a courior with UPS would deliver the check for $57,000.

The next day I waited until almost 10am and called the number on the letter and again spoke with Ms. Taylor and was told that the wire for $2000 had cleared but that there was a problem with the $1500 transfer. I was instructed to go to Western Union and get the money back and then call her back. I went to Western Union and spoke with the agent who informed me that the transfer had went through and that it was available for pickup. I went back and called the number on the letter and spoke with Sherry who then told me that they would give me a call back in 30 minutes with further instructions.

She called me back to say that they still had not been able to retreive the funds and that she wanted to know if I would be able to go back to Western Union to get the funds back. I told her that I had to return to work and that this would have to wait until later on in the afternoon. She asked that I give her a call as soon as I made it home.

When I made it home I had a message for me to call a Monica Johnson, who informed me that she worked in the Unclaimed Funds department and that she was trying to get the check sent out asap. I told her that I had already spoken with someone from the company and that with all the chaos going on regarding the whole situation I felt that this was some type of scam. She assured that it was not and stated " we trusted with our money, why would we send you a check if this was a fraud?" I told her that the money should be ready for pick up. She stated that she would give me a call back in 30 minutes.

Once I hung up with her I called Western Union and found that the address that the transfer was sent to was incorrect. The agent put the state abbreviation for Maryland and not Manitoba. I then received a call from a Robert Hall who was supposed to be the courier telling me that they still had not received the funds and that he wanted me to go to Western Union and get the money back and send it to the same person through Money Gram. I told my husband about this and he started investigating on the internet.

We saw that the National Fraud website had a statement on it regarding these types of check scams. At this point we went to Western Union and cancelled the transfer and got the money back. Once we made it home we had a missed call from 519-991-1882 from Windsor, ON on the caller ID. Prior to that all the calls came in private. I then did further investigation on the internet and found this website.

I plan on contacting the National Fraud Hotline and filing a complaint. I'm not sure if the check is legitimate but it has already cleared the bank. I hope they catch and prosecute this scam artists and I would like to help in any way that I can.

Anonymous

Vicksburg, Mississippi

U.S.A.