‘Jackpot’ prize merely a scam

By Kipp Hanley

Published: August 21, 2008

Bristow resident Sylvester Small knew something was fishy when daughter Tiffany Patterson received a letter saying she'd won $675,000 from Publishers Clearing House and a check for more than $5,190.

Sure enough, it was a scam and Small wants to make sure people are aware of it. "I told her nothing is free," said Small, a sergeant with the Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice.

Patterson recently received a letter dated Aug. 15 with a Publishers Clearing House Inc. header on it along with the check, which Small said was from a Comerica Bank based out of Dallas. The letter said she had won $675,000 and that she needed to deposit the check and then send a portion of that money via certified check to an address in Hous-ton by Sept. 1 in order to claim her prize.

It also listed a claims number and that before depositing the check, she must call a claims agent. Patterson made the call and was convinced enough to deposit the money into her account at Wachovia Bank in Gainesville, Small said.

The check passed initial muster by the local bank clerks, Small said. However, the next day, Small started investi-gating and in the process determined the name of the bank where the check came from through the routing number. He also spoke with someone at Publishers Clearing House and they told him it was a fake.

The Potomac News and Manassas Journal Messenger contacted Publisher

Clearing House on Thursday and determined that Small was correct in his investigation. A company spokesperson said Publishers Clearing House checks are only mailed out by the United Parcel Service and require a signature upon receipt.

If the check is for more than $1,000, then it must be hand-delivered by the company.

These type of schemes have become popular, said the company spokesperson. Both Wachovia spokesperson Christine Shaw and Comerica spokesperson Kathy Pitton said this particular case sounds like a version of the "lottery scam."

Wachovia has a section in its latest quarterly newsletter that refers to those scams and how they are evolving. It mentions a scheme in which an "official check" is to be used to pay the required processing fees in order to claim a larger monetary prize.

The check is bogus and will charge back against your account if you deposit it, according to the newsletter.

Shaw said some of these scams can be hard to initially detect, despite safeguarding measures that Wachovia takes like employee training and scanners that can determine in many instances the source of a check and whether it's legitimate or not.

"It could be a setup where an account and check are real but the scheme is fraudulent," Shaw said. "...One thing we tell our customers is that if it's too good to be true, it's probably not."

Small said Patterson is taking care of the issue with Wachovia this week.

Staff writer Kipp Hanley can be reached at 703-369-5738.