With millions of economic stimulus checks showing up in mailboxes nationwide these days, there's a lot of other checks showing up, that you would be wise not to cash...
The federal trade commission is warning about a new wave of sophisticated fake checks that are making the rounds here in western Washington.
a Marysville man tipped us off about the one he received.
When Roy Mosby opened the letter in the mail, he could hardly believe it.
Not only had he won $250,000 in the Canadian megamillions lottery, he received a check for $4200.
A down payment, they said, on his winnings... All he needed to do, was send them back 32-hundred of it...through Moneygram or Western Union.
And that struck Roy as odd... so he did some research on the company that sent the letter, to see if it was a real company, which it was.
The bank, and the check seemed to check out.
"Everything on it's legit, watermarks, the works", Roy says.
But he dug deeper...He searched the company's address and phone number, and neither checked out...
and when he took the check to the bank, they studied it closely, and confirmed, it was a fake.
"This was the fifth one they've gotten the last three months, Roy says."
If he would have deposited that check, and wired the 32-hundred dollar supposed tax fee...
he would have been out all that money, plus all the bank fees.
Roy says, "It would have been a nightmare."
Now, I've warned you about this before. Any time you're asked to send money as part of a contest you've won, it's not really a prize. The best thing to do with these letters is to just throw them away.
For more information on how to send a formal complaint to the federal trade commission, it's here, on our website. q13 fox.com
Please email me any comments or concerns directly at bwixey@tribune.com
--Bill Wixey