AWARD SCAM ALERT

FWIW: There is a relatively new scam on the 'net. Originator is FSC
(First Security Corp) announcing that you have won a lottery (nothing
new so far). BUT: They include a check for you with the notice.

My check was for $4890. This is (supposedly) for me to pay the taxes
on my winnings, and was run from Canada. Taxes due: $4,400.

The killer is that you must pay the taxes to your "Tax Agent" by
Western Union or Moneygram, and that pretty fast.

Bank routing codes on the check are legit. BUT: Not for the bank shown
(Cigna/Bank of Conneticut (sic), for St Looks (sic) hospital. (not St.
Luke's).

Checks are on a legitimate bank, but there's no account there. The
idea is you will send a moneygram out of your own account while
waiting for the bogus check to clear. Gotcha!

The beauty of the scam is that the checks are written on security
paper, with surface security watermarks. A fault is that the check
says there is security microprinting in the borders, but there is no
such microprinting there.

Turned it over to my financial inst. and they verified the routing
codes, and also that the designated account did not exist. They
appreciated my givig them a heads up on this, as they had not seen it
before in this particular flavor. The giveaway was the misspelling of
the word "Connecticut".

If you have received this in the mails, well, you've been warned.

Alex

On Sep 28, 4:05*pm, Chemiker wrote:
FWIW: There is a relatively new scam on the 'net. Originator is FSC
(First Security Corp) announcing that you have won a lottery (nothing
new so far). BUT: They include a check for you with the notice.

My check was for $4890. This is (supposedly) for me to pay the taxes
on my winnings, and was run from Canada. Taxes due: $4,400.

The killer is that you must pay the taxes to your "Tax Agent" by
Western Union or Moneygram, and that pretty fast.

Bank routing codes on the check are legit. BUT: Not for the bank shown
(Cigna/Bank of Conneticut (sic), for St Looks (sic) hospital. (not St.
Luke's).

Checks are on a legitimate bank, but there's no account there. The
idea is you will send a moneygram out of your own account while
waiting for the bogus check to clear. Gotcha!

The beauty of the scam is that the checks are written on security
paper, with surface security watermarks. A fault is that the check
says there is security microprinting in the borders, but there is no
such microprinting there.

Turned it over to my financial inst. and they verified the routing
codes, and also that the designated account did not exist. They
appreciated my givig them a heads up on this, as they had not seen it
before in this particular flavor. The giveaway was the misspelling of
the word "Connecticut".

If you have received this in the mails, well, you've been warned.

Alex

DM got one of these but hers was for a prize from Great
Britain. Mailed with no return address from GB, but with
an address on the letter in Phoenix or Las Vegas, can't
remember which. Oh, and of course they said they had
tried reaching her but had been unable to. We've also
gotten the phone calls trying to verify her address for a
"package" to be delivered. Right. After about 3 calls
they finally gave up.

Nancy