What is the name of your state? ND
A friend of mine was telling me about a situation and I didn't think it sounded right. I would like to get some advise for my friend on how to proceed.
Here is the story:
About a month ago he received a letter in the mail stating that he had won some money in an Australian lottery. He told me about the letter and I automatically told him to throw it away because it sounds like a big scam. He listened and threw the letter away.
Didn't think too much about it until the other day. Again, he received a letter stating that he had won an Australian lottery. This time, the letter was typed out stating that they have tried contacting him without any response and this letter is the last resort. It came from Oasis Financial. There was a name and phone number of a claims attorney to contact with any questions and a check that was issued from a Wells Fargo bank account. He again asked me what I thought.
So, I told him that I would call the phone number and talk to the 'claims attorney' and see what he had to say.
He proceeded to do this as I had suggested and the guy basically explained that the check was sent to him to help pay for the fees to be able to send him the winnings which was $750,000.00. He said that the amount of the check would be taken out of the $750,000 that he had won. The guy told that what he needs to do is go to the bank and cash the check, then go to somewhere and send $2,900 to him via Western Union or Money Transfer and then he will send him the check for the remaining winnings. My friend proceeded to ask a few questions of the attorney and try to get him to stumble up but the guy just answered the questions that were asked and then again stated for my friend to go to the bank and cash the check and then call him back for the details on how to transfer the money to him so that he can send the remaining amount via check.
OK....all of this still sounded a bit off so I told my friend that in order to be safe, he should bring the check to the Wells Fargo Bank here and ask them if the check was legit and everything.
The very next day, he took the check to the bank and asked the woman behind the counter to verify that the check was legit. She took the check with her and verified the account information and the check. She stated that the check was legit and she would be able to cash it. Only problem was that the check was post dated so he would need to wait until the date on the check in order to cash it.
Thinking this was a little odd, my friend called the claims attorney back and asked him why the check was post dated. So, the guy explained to him that it was dated that way due to them processing the date as day/month/year.
OK...all seems good with the check but there is still something that just doesn't sound right. I mean we all go on websites and enter contests and drawings for things that we will never win. We receive junk mail in our email that we sometimes respond to in order for that chance to win but nobody really ever does.
But here is the problem. My friend and I are still very skeptical about this whole thing. We keep trying to find the part that makes it a scam but can't find it.
I have read and heard about a lot of scams but never one where money was sent to you. Normally they are asking for money from you and then you just lose that money. Or they are asking for bank information...not in this case. They just want to send a check. I don't know.
If anyone could shed any light on this topic, it would be really great to hear. We appreciate it.
Thank you.What is the name of your state?
A friend of mine was telling me about a situation and I didn't think it sounded right. I would like to get some advise for my friend on how to proceed.
Here is the story:
About a month ago he received a letter in the mail stating that he had won some money in an Australian lottery. He told me about the letter and I automatically told him to throw it away because it sounds like a big scam. He listened and threw the letter away.
Didn't think too much about it until the other day. Again, he received a letter stating that he had won an Australian lottery. This time, the letter was typed out stating that they have tried contacting him without any response and this letter is the last resort. It came from Oasis Financial. There was a name and phone number of a claims attorney to contact with any questions and a check that was issued from a Wells Fargo bank account. He again asked me what I thought.
So, I told him that I would call the phone number and talk to the 'claims attorney' and see what he had to say.
He proceeded to do this as I had suggested and the guy basically explained that the check was sent to him to help pay for the fees to be able to send him the winnings which was $750,000.00. He said that the amount of the check would be taken out of the $750,000 that he had won. The guy told that what he needs to do is go to the bank and cash the check, then go to somewhere and send $2,900 to him via Western Union or Money Transfer and then he will send him the check for the remaining winnings. My friend proceeded to ask a few questions of the attorney and try to get him to stumble up but the guy just answered the questions that were asked and then again stated for my friend to go to the bank and cash the check and then call him back for the details on how to transfer the money to him so that he can send the remaining amount via check.
OK....all of this still sounded a bit off so I told my friend that in order to be safe, he should bring the check to the Wells Fargo Bank here and ask them if the check was legit and everything.
The very next day, he took the check to the bank and asked the woman behind the counter to verify that the check was legit. She took the check with her and verified the account information and the check. She stated that the check was legit and she would be able to cash it. Only problem was that the check was post dated so he would need to wait until the date on the check in order to cash it.
Thinking this was a little odd, my friend called the claims attorney back and asked him why the check was post dated. So, the guy explained to him that it was dated that way due to them processing the date as day/month/year.
OK...all seems good with the check but there is still something that just doesn't sound right. I mean we all go on websites and enter contests and drawings for things that we will never win. We receive junk mail in our email that we sometimes respond to in order for that chance to win but nobody really ever does.
But here is the problem. My friend and I are still very skeptical about this whole thing. We keep trying to find the part that makes it a scam but can't find it.
I have read and heard about a lot of scams but never one where money was sent to you. Normally they are asking for money from you and then you just lose that money. Or they are asking for bank information...not in this case. They just want to send a check. I don't know.
If anyone could shed any light on this topic, it would be really great to hear. We appreciate it.
Thank you.What is the name of your state?