Public service announcement

[cleolinda]

So my mother got a letter Saturday morning informing her that she has won $125,000 in a "Canadian lottery," and here is a check for $5000 to take care of "Canadian taxes," but she will only have to send them $4800 of it back and then blah blah blah scam scam scam. Fortunately the first thing she did was 1) not believe it and the second thing she did was 2) call upon my Google-fu. The first thing I did was Google the name on the check, and the very first page of the very first site of the very first result said this:

Notice of fraudulent checks:

QST Industries has never issued any checks for lottery or tax reimbursements. We are a company located within the USA and do not send checks out of any locations within Canada.

If you have received a check that appears to be from us it is a forged check with an invalid bank account number.

Our banks and the authorities are on guard against these forgeries. If you have any questions please feel free to contact our corporate headquarters at [etc.]

Next up: M&M Financial, Inc., "Financial Investment and Lottery Resource Management":

"M&M Financial is a private firm specializing in the resolution of government tax liabilities in all 50 states." Hm. Another stolen name.

RipoffReport.com: "M & M Financial Group, James McInnes, Ryan Morgan Defrauded my father and me out of $80,000+ Lindon Utah."

RipoffReport.com: "M And M Financial, Inc, Claim Agent - Chris Peters, Manager - H.I Grundy Canadian Sweepstakes Big Scam. BEWARE Americans Vegreville Alberta Canada."

Uh-oh--they're playing our song. Let's see what they say:

The check they sent was intended to pay the Canadian Non Resident Tax and they said that the amount was deducted from my winnings. Why would they send me a check to pay for the Canadian Non Resident Tax where in fact they can actually deduct the tax amount and pay directly to the Canadian Tax Bureau and just send me the net amount? [...] Meaning, you encash their check, pay their tax 'as in' and before you know it, they have already access your bank account and your personal information like your SSN, your paychecks (if direct deposit), etc.

Yeah, that's pretty much what I was thinking. The report was filed four days ago, and the reporter doesn't seem to have fallen for it (I mean, fortunately), so we don't know the extent of the scam--although I guess they'd take you for everything they could lay hands on. (Apparently the Canadian Lottery Scam is not unique to these people, either.) So basically, in conclusion: Google is your friend, and lotteries you didn't enter are bad.

Comments

[bluinkalchemist.livejournal.com]

You live farther away from Canada than I do, if memory serves.

My mind, it is blown.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Alabama, actually--literally the opposite end of the country.

[eclecticmum.livejournal.com]

I work at a credit union and we see checks like this (the other popular one is the Australian Lottery) and aside from all the points you have so excellently made, there is a US law that prohibits US citizens from entering foreign lotteries.

http://www.fraudaid.com/ScamSpam/Lottery/foreign_lottery_federal_statute.htm

Yet, every week we still have our members arguing with us when we will not deposit these fraudulent items into their accounts. *shakes head*

edited to include the link

[kismeteve.livejournal.com]

I work as a bank teller, and between lottery scams and ebay/craigslist scams, I turn away at least one or two deposits a week. It's so frustrating.

[jrs1980.livejournal.com]

I once got a Nigerian scam sent by snail mail. It was so much more personal than spam! <3

[gfrancie.livejournal.com]

It showed they cared to send the best.

[alabasterfalcon.livejournal.com]

Wow. I love stuff like this. *sarcasm*

[ravenofthejade.livejournal.com]

D= We don't even deduct money from prizes until taxes at the end of the year you won it! I think..

[aka-paloma.livejournal.com]

Anything won via lottery or any sort of gambling is not taxed at all here in Canada.

[queenthesixth.livejournal.com]

With us, it's the Spanish or the Belgian lotteries that we "win" on a regular basis, provided we send them so many hundred euros to cover bank fees. There was a woman on the radio before who actually fell for it and sent off all the cash they wanted because they kept needing more from her before they'd send her the money. Eventually she had to tell her husband. She was in bits telling the story but wow, was she gullible. If something is too good to be true, it usually is!

[mjinaspen.livejournal.com]

It's a good thing your mom's smart. It baffles me how many people out there fall for these scams. And it makes me sad.

[punzerel.livejournal.com]

Haha, when you mentioned fake Canadian lotteries on Twitter, I thought you meant the 6/49 $43 million jackpot (not fake, it is actually that much money). This makes much more sense. Good thing your mother's too smart to be bamboozled by things like that.

(My mom just got an actual Nigerian scam email and was so gleeful she forwarded it to all of us too. Hee.)

[eve-the-just.livejournal.com]

43 million sounds great and all, but it's Canadian dollars, so it might as well be Monopoly money. ;)

(Former Canadian recently moved to the US who still has some cash tied up in Canada and is waiting for the dollar to improve up there *fingers crossed*)

[snowwhite2421.livejournal.com]

huh... and to think, the only scams *I* ever get in the mail are fake news articles about how being overweight can kill you and you totally need to buy this product, with a "personal" note scribbled on the top...

[queenofattolia.livejournal.com]

I know this is a different sort of fraud, but it bears mentioning here because my elderly mother almost fell for it: Beware of "official"-looking letters with fake city or state seals demanding "extra property taxes" or "title transfer charges." These con artists troll public records looking for things for which they can dupe property owners and then send off these fake offcial-looking letters hoping to get a few hundred or even a thousand dollars off of each mark.

My mom almost fell for it because she's easily intimidated by government agencies. Con artists not only play on people's greed, they play on their fears as well.

[jenepel.livejournal.com]

Yes! Also the IRS - there is a whole division relating to scams, and some of them are very very advanced and professional looking. People fall for them a lot just because they see IRS and get scared. I used to work for an Embassy IRS office and we would get calls, emails and letters about it all the time.

[cmdr-zoom.livejournal.com]

Dear sir and/or madame,

Salutations, I am GRIMHELM WORMTONGUE, The son of late Counsellor Grima Wormtongue of the Kingdom of Rohan.

My father was Chief Counsellor [equivalent to Prime Minister] to late lamented king Theoden of Rohan. In his position my father altogether legally and correctly acquired significant assets throughout Rohan in order to protect the Kingdom from enemy forces within and without.

In the course of lamentable events succeeding, my father was illegally deprived of office and expelled from the Kingdom. Before this he had with foresight already entirely legally deposited the sum of M.500,000,000,000 in gold with the Bank of Gondor (Minas Tirith). While in exile in the north he was assaulted and murdered by a band of northern pigmies. His family was obliged to seek refuge in northern Dunland among some of our sympathisers.

My father left to me all documents necessary to retrieve the sum of gold aforesaid from the Bank of Gondor (Minas Tirith). However, in the current political circumstances my solicitor believes it unwise for me to attempt to make the trip from Dunland to Minas Tirith, and has recommended that I seek a trustworthy foreign business partner into whose account this money could be tranferred. This appears to be the best option as we are unable to open an account in Dunland. Therefore we are seeking your trustworthy assistance and cooperation.

You will provide information about your account that will enable a deposit to be made in your name. I will contact the Bank of Gondor (Minas Tirith) and inform them that the money is to be placed into your account. Upon completion of the transaction your share of the proceeds will be 15% net following deduction of all transfer fees, that is M. 75,000,000,000. If the transaction goes well we also look forward to maintaining you as a profitable business partner for future ventures.

It goes without saying that I can expect your complete confidence and secrecy in keeping this matter under wraps prefatory to completion.

Please reach me at my email address: mbrandybuck@buckland.net

Thank you and ERU bless.

MR. GRIMHELM WORMTONGUE.

[msilverstar]

OH WELL DONE!

[roseredhoofbeat.livejournal.com]

Make sure you call the Attorney General's office for wherever that check says they're based! They really are the only people equipped to deal with this kind of thing.

And your mom should go and Mominate on them. Seriously, if anyone ever deserved it, it's scum who try to scam decent people like you guys.

[http://users.livejournal.com/ktk____________/]

Old scam is old. It's so sad when people get hit by it. Because it's usually someone who reeeaaally needs the money, and BAM they receive this miracle check,and are all excited... until they find out the check wasn't real.

A couple of old... couples... from my bank got hit by that a couple of years ago. It makes my heart hurt so bad.

[paranoidgrl.livejournal.com]

I had a client who actually cashed the check and sent the excess back for a similar scam. Of course, the bank then went after her for a massive overdraft. Poor thing never really understood it was a scam.

[vega-ofthe-lyre.livejournal.com]

Oh, snap, I used to live in Vegreville, Alberta.

(Glad you guys weren't taken in, and awesome of you to spread the word.)

[troubleinchina.livejournal.com]

Vegreville, on top of being home of the world's largest Ukrainian Easter Egg, is... well... I had dead gophers through at me there. *shudder*

[pigsnicket.livejournal.com]

Awwww, I have many childhood memories of that giant egg.

[lederhosen.livejournal.com]

Meaning, you encash their check, pay their tax 'as in' and before you know it, they have already access your bank account and your personal information like your SSN, your paychecks (if direct deposit), etc.

You probably knew this, but in case anybody missed it - identity theft is probably only the secondary sting. A lot of scams work on this "I send you money, then ask you to send some of it back" principle (a popular version is "oops, I put an extra zero in the check").

The victim doesn't realise they're being scammed because it seems like they're still up on the deal - I bank a $5k check, even if I have to send $4800 back, I'm still $200 up on the deal, right? The catch is that once the check/postal order/etc turns out to be forged, you have to pay back that $5k to the bank.

(I'm not sure coupling this to a 'lottery' is really a good angle for the scammers, since that will warn a lot of people who might have fallen for the opportunity to make $200 profit.)

OT

[kels.livejournal.com]

Well, now your mom has to see this movie:
Daniel Craig Joins "Tintin"! (http://community.livejournal.com/ohnotheydidnt/31777392.html)

[istoo.livejournal.com]

Hi, I don't know if you still use GreatestJournal, but their main page says 'Server no longer maintained and will be closed Jan 30 2009'

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I heard about it--I gave up on them a while ago, they've been really unstable for at least a year.

[unicornluvr.livejournal.com]

I got one of these delightful scam letters promising me either a shopping spree or a $40,000 porsche, which must be the worst porsche ever.

[runa27.livejournal.com]

Maybe it's just the chassis! :D

[senshikittie.livejournal.com]

You may want to report that to the United States Postal Inspectors. should be uspis.gov and they should have a link on their web page to report it. >.>

[mysticowl.livejournal.com]

Did you know that Canadians don't pay taxes on lottery winnings? Not sure whether Americans would have to pay taxes for winning Canadian lottery. By the way, this past weekend's Loto 649 jackpot was $44 million and 3 winning tickets were issued, the lucky people won $14.8 million each.

[aka-paloma.livejournal.com]

One of those people was supposed to be me! *cries*

[gracefallson-me.livejournal.com]

lol. there was a story in my local paper last week about this "lottery".

[jennnk.livejournal.com]

I don't understand how people can fall for these things. How can you win something you didn't enter? Given you cannot legally play the lottery in other countries (contrary to the YOU HAEVE WUN UK LOTTO!!!!ELEVENTY!! e-mails I keep getting), and given you'd remember entering, how can people go "ooh! awesome!"???

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

It's greed, really (and often financial desperation). Actually, my mother is hugely into entering Publisher's Clearinghouse sweepstakes, so there was a moment of her wondering if she'd entered this without remembering it. And because they send you a check--"free money"--it's tempting to say, maybe this is a scam, but they were dumb enough to send me money, right? Without realizing that what's going to happen is you're going to send them they're $4800 and keep your $200... and then the check's going to turn out to be bad and you're going to have to pay your bank back, and they got your money anyway. And if you just keep it and don't send them anything, it's still a bad check and there's no actual money anyway.

[seamonkey-mags.livejournal.com]

What, we're the new Nigerians? Sheesh.