$25000 cheque

theprisoner_2

BFG wrote: »

This is genuine; I got a similar email and I replied and they sent me £247,000. I couldn't believe it. I just wish I'd done it sooner.

My next door neighbour got one, and he replied and he only got £38,879 - hah, how I laughed. Then the neighbour the other side got one and he ended up with over £2 million, man was he happy (and we were a bit envious!!). But it didn't matter, coz the next week we got another one and this time we replied and got £270,000,000 (apparently it was a Eurolotto rollover).

If you don't want yours, can you forward it to me and I'll have the money.

HTH.

I researched a similar scam on Hoax-Slayer about cleared cheques because my father was sent a similar cheque. Please read below before cashing any cheque or you may just get the cops knocking on your door in the future!!

A submission from a Hoax-Slayer visitor should help illustrate how these scammers operate:
I got a letter saying that I had won a lot of money in a lottery. The letter came with a check for $2,765.38. The letter said that I should put the check in my bank and then wire $2,745.20 to an overseas number to pay for the international clearance fee for my prize. They said that after I send the clearance fee they will send my prize of $83,598.12.

Since the check has already cleared in my bank and it seems all ok, does this mean that the prize is real? Should I wire the money?


In fact, the cheque that the victim received is likely to be stolen. By tricking a victim into wiring money from the proceeds of such a cheque, the scammers have effectively "laundered" their stolen funds. Of course, the promised prize is entirely imaginary and will never arrive. And sadly, the victim may have to face serious legal and financial consequences. The "paper trail" of the stolen cheque may lead police directly to the hapless "lottery winner". Technically, he or she has committed fraud by depositing and using funds from the stolen cheque. Meanwhile, the scammer has picked up the stolen money and disappeared. This ruse is similar to payment transfer job scams, which are also intended to launder stolen funds.

Even recipients who have some awareness of lottery scams may fall victim to this cheque variation. Because a potential victim actually takes possession of a cheque that seems to clear without problems, he or she is more likely to believe that the lottery is genuine. In some cases, the scammers may convince the victim to wire money out of his or her own funds even before the cheque has cleared by claiming that the payment must be made within a certain time or the winnings will be forfeited. If the cheque is bogus and subsequently dishonoured by the bank, the victim will be left out of pocket.

Often, this sort of lottery scam message is sent to potential victims via surface mail with the cheque already included. Alternatively, an initial message may be sent by email or fax. If a potential victim responds to this message, he or she will soon be sent a cheque by mail.

Please don't fall for this and stop the scammers!!

chica_fi

My every bank managery instinct screams stay away!! You'd deposit the cheque into your account, it would probably be sent away for collection / negotiation, in the interim the scammers would tell you to send a large (ish) sum of money for processing fees. The cheque would be returned unpaid and you'd be out of pocket. We've had a few of these recently, they tend to hit an area with a few at the same time. When it comes down to it, if you've not entered anything then you've not won anything. No-one's going to give you money for nothing, not these days. Sorry, mate :cool: