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Letter to the editor

If it seems too good to be true, check it out

The Internet and phone calls are ways to gauge the legitimacy of sweepstakes.

By NICK BIRDSONG
Published June 6, 2007

ST. PETERSBURG - When the letter arrived with promises of a $50,000 prize, rather than visions of champagne- toasted wishes and caviar dreams, all James Mock could see was red flags.

The announcement arrived in Mock's mail on May 15. The sender, Harmony Prize Sweepstakes Inc., informed him that he won $50,000 after a lottery, held months before in London, drew his lucky numbers.

Because the letter referred to "Federal and International regulations governing the personal collections of cash prizes," Mock's winnings would be released to him after he paid a clearing fee. The envelope also included a cashier's check for $2,950 from Country Federal Credit Union in Baldwin to cover the fee. The letter cited "section 22 of the United Kingdom Non Resident Tax Act 2003" which, according to the sender, states that it was a criminal offense to authorize winning payments without full tax clearance by the winner.

Despite the apparent authenticity of the check, which included microprinting and an artificial watermark, Mock, 52, who works as a dietary manager at Pasadena Manor on Pasadena Avenue S, said he still thought someone might be trying to pull one over on him.

Mock's address was handwritten on the envelope with no return address. And though the check was coming from Baldwin, the letter was stamped royal mail from England.

Furthermore, the letter mentioned that Harmony had attempted on several occasions to contact Mock and insisted that he not tell anyone that he'd won or he'd risk losing the money. "We check all of our mail," Mock said. "We're real thorough about that. We check our caller ID. I'd never entered nothing. So, how could I win something?"

St. Petersburg Police Department Sgt. Kevin Smith, who has handled economic crimes and forgery in the city for the past 10 years, said Harmony's approach was typical of the countless number of phony check scams in existence.

Had Mock followed through with the sender's request, he would have deposited the check into his personal bank account and then transferred the clearance fee via a wiring service such as Western Union or MoneyGram.

Once the money is sent to a third party, said John Zajac, corporate council for the Better Business Bureau of West Florida, it can't be tracked. When the check comes back as fraudulent, the victim is left high and dry and in debt to their bank.

"We get about 10 calls like that a week," Smith. "We try to convince people that you don't want to correspond with them and you don't want to send them any money. This happens all over the country. There really is no rhyme or reason to it."

Zajac said anyone who receives random pieces of mail from sweepstakes or lotteries should do exactly what Mock did.

Mock did a simple Internet search for Country Federal Credit Union and found that the name and location on the check was correct but the toll-free phone number listed on it wasn't.

He also found a release from the Better Business Bureau of Chicago that outlined the proliferation of phony check scams.

The letter he received matched the description perfectly. He then called the real Country Federal Credit Union, whose number begins with area code 904, and inquired about his supposed winnings.

"They told me this was an ongoing investigation for like three years and that several people had already been jailed," Mock said.

Zajac also recommended people use good old-fashioned common sense.

"If you're going to win X amount of thousands of dollars," Zajac said, "then why should you have to pay a couple of thousand of dollars to get it. Why don't they just deduct it from your winnings?"

Mock says up until Friday he got a call every morning around 6:20 inquiring whether he was going to collect his winnings.

"There are a lot of elderly people or people without good judgment and computer skills who could easily be fooled by this," Mock said.

Country Federal Credit Union in Baldwin was contacted on several occasions for this article but declined comment. A representative did, however, state that the credit union had an officer working on this case.

The phone number printed on the check that was sent to Mock was answered by someone who said they were a business manager at Country Federal Credit Union. That person told the Times "a lot of that was going on" in reference to frauds.

[Last modified June 5, 2007, 23:57:19]