There is no need to say that every one has been facing hard times lately. I, myself am not excluded from this. After being laid off for a year and half I finally was called back to work. Only to find myself, 6 months later, on short term disability due to a back injury. With bills stacking up for every one and money becoming harder and harder to get our hands on it becomes very easy to fall victim of some terrible persons scam to make money. It never hurts to do a little research into some thing that sounds too good to be true. With the Internet and so many other resources available now it becomes very easy to blow the lid off of some one get rich quick scam. It also becomes very easy for people to steal your information and steal your money.... So here is my story.
With my back injury comes huge amounts of medical bills, that aren't stopping anytime soon. I also had a car accident that totalled a car I only owned for 3 months, and through a long battle with the insurance company, it still isn't fixed yet. Plus the cost of every day living, getting to the chiropractor, and gas prices, money is hard to come by. It's also very safe to say that I am at a very high risk of being scammed.
A few days ago I received a letter in the mail, a letter that had "Readers Digests" letter head on it. This letter informed me that I had won a sweepstakes and I was entitled to $500,000. It also contained a check for close to $5,000 dollars. It simply instructed me to call them and give them my prize code and they would give me further instructions. So out of pure curiosity I called. Gave them my prize code and questioned them about how I was entered into this sweepstakes drawing. They informed me that when shopping at places like Wal-Mart, Target, The Home Depot, and a few other places that your information was automatically entered into a drawing and I had won. They told me that the check was to cover taxes and other fees which I had to pay out of my own pocket. They instructed me to deposit the check into my account and then call them back and a prize patrol would delivery the remainder of the winnings. I decided that all of this sounded a little sketchy. So when I got home that night I did a little research on this sweepstakes. The first site I was directed to was fraudwatchers.com. Bingo. Big scam. As is turns out the checks they sent are stolen checks. So once you deposit the check it is more then likely traced. They then will come and deliver you a very large check that is no good, you write them a check to cover taxes and costs and they go on their happy way. Knowing that they just embezzled money with your help and there is no way to trace them. You are then held responsible for the amount of the stolen check that you deposited in the bank, and possible charges of fraud for depositing a stolen check. Great scam, and had I not done my research, I could have fell victim to it.
The next scam happened that same day. Although it took them a few days longer because I did not return their phone calls for a few days. I received two phone calls from a man with a very heavy middle eastern accent. The message he left me was stating that I had serious legal matters being charged against me and my social security number and I was to call them back immediately before they could no longer assist me with these matters. I didn't call them back, because I could barely understand the message. Then yesterday I received more calls, from a woman this time. So instead of calling back the number they gave me to call, I called the number that showed on my caller ID to find out where the calls where coming from. The number connected me with an apartment renting office some where in Florida. Clue number one. So the third time they called back this day I answered. The claimed to be from a Morris Law Firm out of Florida. They said I was being charged with non payment of a payday loan. They said their clients name was United Cash Services and they had loaned me money which I had not repayed. They had the name of my employer, my birth date and my address. I have never had business of any type with the client they claimed to be representing. Clue number two. I then questioned the man I had been transferred to how I could check and see if there "law firm" was legitimate. He became very angry with me saying I was going to jail and how dare I call them a liar. I hung up on him. So again I then went online and I did some more reasearch. I was directed to the FBI's website, where it told numerous stories about these particular peoples scam. They tell you that you are being charged with Federal crimes and that they can make it all go away by sending them money. The website instructed me to file a report with the FBI and contact local police. Also to put a flag on my credit reports so I would alerted of any suspicious activity. While doing this, the people running this scam continued to call me. So when I was done I answered. I informed them that what they are doing is fraud and they would be the ones going to jail, not me. I also told them that I had filed a complaint with the FBI and the man again became very angry and hung up on me. So I called him back. I had my fun with him.... I told him that he was a no good immigrant and he should get a job and stop scamming innocent people out of their hard earned money, and right before he hung up again I may or may not have told him to go back to Iraq and ride a F****** camel. He hung up and I have yet to receive any more calls from them.
So before giving out any information or accepting any money, do your homework. Make sure you know who is getting your information and what they are using it for. I have yet to find out where they got my information from and I probably never will. Don't fall victim to some ones scams, I would hate to hear of some one losing hundreds of dollars they couldn't afford to lose!
