for my LEO friends

So today in the mail (real USP Mail not email) I received this letter

along with a very official looking check (had watermarks and all security features intact) for $7652. Interestingly, the letter says it is from Nevada, but the check is from a Canadian bank. The postmark on the letter was also from Canada

Yeah- uh huh... I won some sweepstakes that I never even entered. OK.

((Oh- that "Eric Johnson" that is hand written on the letter. I wrote that- that is the name the guy on the phone gave me. I wonder if he plays guitar LMAO)))

I googled "Nevada State Commission" and found nothing at all, not even any scam reports. Odd... I googled the address, and it is the address for Nevada's Medical Examiner LOL

So... I go ahead and call the number. I know this is a scam, I just want to hear what they have to say. The guy on the phone tells me that I have won $250K, and that the $7652 check is just an initial payment sent to me to cover the costs of taxes and insurance I'll need to pay in order to get my $250k (um huh). He tells me to go ahead and deposit the check and then call him back and he'll tell me where I need to send the taxes and insurance money. I told him "OK- I'll deposit the check and call you back in 3 weeks after it clears". He tells me "No, it will only take 2 days to clear".

So I left it at that and said goodbye.

I wonder if there are any laws broken here since he sent it to me in the US Postal mail? I did check the phone numbers on the letter, and those numbers are in Canada. Obviously criminals can get away with this crap when they are in Nigeria, but how can they get away with it in Canada?

Should I be reporting this to someone? Apparently this is a new-ish one since googling it came up empty.

Yes, you should be, at a minimum, reporting it to the USPS Inspection services: https://postalinspectors.uspis.gov/

They can start catching stuff from these guys in the mail and building a case, along with other LEOs necessary.

Canada is apparently real big into wire scams. They like to do a "secret shopped scam", where you're to "Evaluate the services," of, say, Western Union by cashing a check they give you and wiring the money somewhere, filling out a form, etc.

The USPSIS has a specific category for this type of scam "Lottery (You pay to Play)"


!c

jkdrone wrote:

Yes, you should be, at a minimum, reporting it to the USPS Inspection services: https://postalinspectors.uspis.gov/

They can start catching stuff from these guys in the mail and building a case, along with other LEOs necessary.

Canada is apparently real big into wire scams. They like to do a "secret shopped scam", where you're to "Evaluate the services," of, say, Western Union by cashing a check they give you and wiring the money somewhere, filling out a form, etc.

The USPSIS has a specific category for this type of scam "Lottery (You pay to Play)"


!c

I found the USPS Postal Inspector fraud hotline email addy a little while ago. Sent them the jpg of the letter along with a description of our conversation. I'll wait to see if they need any more info.

If they would use all that intelligence to do something legit they would be rich.

Don't understand how people can scam other people out of their money and still sleep at night.

Maybe they don't sleep :hiding:

Good job not cashing the check.

Dude, I just Google Earth'd the address, 1105 terminal way reno nevada, on Earth View...........LOL.

Saw two hookers and a dead dog......not bad for Reno.....

skoalman wrote:

Dude, I just Google Earth'd the address, 1105 terminal way reno nevada, on Earth View...........LOL.

Saw two hookers and a dead dog......not bad for Reno.....

Like I said- the address (suite number) is the Medical Examiner's office. Guess the scammer has some since of humor- figuring you must be dead to fall for his scam

let us know what the posties say

We got similar letters last year, one from Nigeria and one from Mexico. My wife runs a party planning business and they were saying they wanted to setup a wedding, they were sending checks for us to turn around and pay others. We said no thank you. Just different versions of the same scam.

there was a dude who actually cashed one of these checks and got the money...

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/g/archive/2003/09/17/moneytales.DTL


he gave it back though...