Scam from Nigeria uses Niagara Casino

my step-dad just got a letter in the mail claiming we've won $55,500, and a check came with it worth $3,955! the letter is as follows, typo's and all... :

INTERNATIONAL AWARD CLAIM DEPARTMENT

120 CASINO SQUARE
NIAGARA FALLS NY 11100
PHONE 1-647-928-0895

DATE:10/27 /2008
CLAIM #: LG/JB-0055197KF

ATT, [step-father's name],

AWARD CLAIM FINAL NOTIFICATION

This is to inform you of the official release of the 2008 NORTH - AMERICAN LOTTERY held on July 4th, 2008 in the 2nd category at NIAGARA CASINO. A ticket with serial numbers FS 00915610997 attached to your name drew the lucky winning numbers 3-9-14-17-29-37-48.

We have made many unsuccessful attempts to contact you regarding this winning. You are entitled to the sum of $55,500.00 US dollars. This is from total prize money of 1.11 MILLION US dollars that was shared and presented among 20 declared winners. Please note that all the participants were selected through a random computer ballot system drawn from over 100,000 names.

Your claim number is LG/JB-0055197KFand in accordance with our disbursement policy, your prize award money has been forwarded to our clearing / disbursement institution to release your funds to you either by certified check, money order or wire transfer to your designated local bank account which you will provide.

To expedite the processing, enclosed is a check of $3,955 US dollars which has been deducter from you winning. You will be using some money on this first check to pay for the applicable Taxes on your winning (55,500.00.)

The tax amount is USD $2,900.00 ( TWO- THOUSAND NINE HUNDRED DOLLARS) to be paid either by WESTERN UNION or MONEYGRAM.

Please do not attempt to use this check until you call and speak with the claim agent.

MR. BOB CLEMS; for further clarification and instructions on claiming your winning.
NOTE: If we do not hear from you within a specific period of time, we shall assume the enclosed check amount as lost and your winning as unclaimed and the check will be cancelled and declared null and void.

(CLAIMS/DISBURSEMENT AGENT) MR. BOB : TEL: 1-647-928-0895

Congratulations

Yours Truly

[sig]

Michael J. Hialop
(Promotion Manager)

i then found these on the net:

Scam from Nigeria uses Niagara Casino

www.complaintsboard.com...

www.complaintsboard.com...

800notes.com...


the letter had a Canadian stamp on it, and the 647 area code is in Ontario.

also, who is Mr. Bob??




who's sending out these letters?

what needs to be done to catch these guys, that, apparently, are based in Nigeria??

glad we didn't cash it...

i just thought i'd get this out there to the public


peace, & Service-to-Others!

What would happen if you had tried to cash it?

Does somebody want to transfer millions of dollars into your account?
Does someone want you pay you to cash cheques and send them the money?
Met a new friend/penpal on a friendship/dating site who's asking you for money?
Has a dying person contacted you wanting your help to give his money to charity?
Have you sold an item and are asked to accept a payment larger than the item amount?

Take revenge and learn some more about this idiots.

www.419eater.com...

but wait, there's more..

i failed to mention the fact that my step-father had a dream this morning shortly before my mother woke him up, that he had won the lottery!

he told my mom about it right when he woke up, about how he was making plans for the money already in the dream. he won more than than $55,500 though...

weird, huh?

i've had dreams before that played out the very next day, so i know how it feels. but nothing ever like this...

Originally posted by scotty18
What would happen if you had tried to cash it?

The usual thing that happens is:

You deposit the cheque and they are notified about it.
They then contact you, tell you it was a mistake and look for a transfer of the exact amount from your bank account into theirs.
The cheque then bounces.. and they have $3,955 of your money.

It all comes down to timing and gullibility. It works approx 1 time out of 100.

Originally posted by Dermo

Originally posted by scotty18
What would happen if you had tried to cash it?

The usual thing that happens is:

You deposit the cheque and they are notified about it.
They then contact you, tell you it was a mistake and look for a transfer of the exact amount from your bank account into theirs.
The cheque then bounces.. and they have $3,955 of your money.

It all comes down to timing and gullibility. It works approx 1 time out of 100.

I never said anything about sending them money, simply about cashing their check. The OP seemed very glad he did not try to cash the check.

reply to post by Dermo


That what you said could be as well. I maybe thought, they call first the contact which tells them to pay 2.900 first. Then 1 minute later he can cash the cheque. Abd the cheque of course bounces. The call is just there to make beleive. When you speak to a real person that persuades you to pay 2.900, it's just more beleivable...or not? Maybe some pay the amount without even calling...I don't know how gullible people are.

Unless you are looking for something from nothing, none of those scams could possibly affect you.

But so many want to believe that perfect strangers just can't wait to give them money. They know they did nothing to earn it, that they have had no contact with these people, but their greed takes over.

You can't be taken in, unless you are trying to get something for nothing.

Greed will out!

reply to post by Camilo1


hey thanks for the link, i'm going to read more into it right now..

it really is too bad some people actually fall for these types of scams!

what does everyone think about the dream he had shortly before the mail arrived?

Originally posted by scotty18
I never said anything about sending them money, simply about cashing their check. The OP seemed very glad he did not try to cash the check.

The cheque bounces.. nothing happens.

just f.y.i... i received yet another one of these scams, complete with Canadian stamp, in the mail again today...

i wonder how much longer this will go on?

this time it was a check from the "north american sweepstakes commission, inc.", worth $5,620.00!!

It even said:

For further validation or to obtain your verification code you may contact the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) at the following number 1-514-591-0197.

the number's in Quebec...

if they would have provided a Puerto Rican # it might have been more believable!

reply to post by adrenochrome


The way these things work is that the fraudsters take advantage of the way checks are processed.

Meaning if you were to cash or deposit the check everything would be all fine and dandy until a few days later. Then the check would come back as fraudulent and you would owe the bank the money back.

Typically the nigerian princes only want you to send them a "small portion" of the check to cover their expenses/fees. So after you send them the 10% of the total or whatever, a few day later the check bounces and you are responsible for the difference.

The only way to know for sure is to go to thew bank the check was issues from. They would be able to tell you if the funds were available and cash it for you. I would be willing to bet that the issuing bank is either out of the country or from another state so you cannot go in person. NEVER CALL THE NUMBER ON THE CHECK BECAUSE YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHO IS AT THE OTHER END. 99.9999999999% of the time they are fraudulent.

I dealt with these issues daily when I ran a retail banking center.

Good luck

Reagrds

Edit: i didn't use the N-word lol. i was saying a prince of a certain country that starts with a N in Africa where the majority of fraud like this originates from.

[edit on 31-10-2008 by vonvitt]

yea, i even tried calling that IRS # on Skype and he had the nerve to say he was an IRS agent, but spoke with an accent that i couldn't pin down!

reply to post by adrenochrome


My dad just got this letter too. and he was about to reply. thank god he showed it to us. please find a way to stop this from happening.

I don't understand how this scam works, do you get a hefty charge if you call the number or what happens if you cash the check? I need to explain this to my Mom who has me reading ALL the letters she gets. I always told her these letters would not be asking for money to send her money so guess what?!? Now the checks are coming! HELP!

Yeah, we got one here today in MI. Because I have a natural instinct to 'go after' people who do things like this, I took it a step further. The payor on the check was a legitimate company in which I contacted and told them. Oh, and the bank it was drawn on?... Legitimate also... it just so happened, it's our family bank, so I was MORE than happy to fax a copy of the check/letter. The letter is exactly as the other poster described; which is what alerted me since the check info was U.S. info, but the phone number in the letter was from Cananda and the address on the letter said N.Y. I'll let the company (on the check) they tried to also defraud, along with the bank handle it. Unfortunately, there are some people that fall for this scam. I saw it on Judge Joe Brown... but the guy took the check to a check cashing store because the people knew him and he didn't have to 'wait' on the funds. He had already sent the 'taxes' to the fraudelent people, but that check cashing company cashed the check on the spot since the check was written on local bank. That poor guy ended up being out of $5000, PLUS the thousand he sent via Western Union.

I got a flood of these scam letters a few years ago.

I just bundled them up and took them to my local post office and turned them over to an inspector. I have not seen one of these letters since.

OP should do the same because some people actually fall for this and it is really a shame because it is usually the ones who can least afford it.

Although the letters came from Canada I'm sure the US Postal Service would turn the matter over to the Canadians. Or there might be some kind of joint jurisdiction.

reply to post by adrenochrome


Got this EXACT same letter in the mail today!!!