My grandfather is 88 years old, and lives in Tampa. Good guy, totally together mentally and physically, we are very fortunate.
He received a letter in yesterday's mail, with the letterhead "OZL 6/41", with a Seattle Washington address. The letter looks just like a piece of SPAM that you might receive in your email, except that it also includes a check, for $2,960.00.
The letter is full of improper grammar, incomplete sentences, and poor punctuation. It talks about a lottery drawing from back in June 2006 (the "OZ Lotteries" is in fact the proper name for the Australian National Lottery), and how he was one of 50 winners, who together will split a winning pot of $15 million.
My grandfather hasn't played the US lottery in 50 years, let alone the Australian National Lottery. However, this check was very enticing to him (who wouldn't like to receive $2,960 in the mail), so he called the number to "activate" his claim (as described in the letter) and then deposited the check.
He called me a little bit ago, worried now that this is probably a hoax. (Good thinking, Grandpa, just a day late!) I googled some of the key terms / names from the letter, and found this:
http://www.fdic.gov/news/news/Specia...6/sa06274.html ... it was filed by an institution DIFFERENT from the one that the check he received was from, but the story was painfully close. So I called the institution that the check was drawn on (name omitted to protect the innocent), and they indicated that they had filed a similar report with the NACU (Nat'l ***'n of Credit Unions), indicating that some of their checks had been counterfeited as well.
I'm thinking that my grandfather is in for a world of hurt as the result of this ... I hope I'm wrong!! I told my grandfather to call the National Fraud Information Center (800/876-7060) and report it ASAP, to minimize any damage he may have done.
Just thought I would post this, hopefully it helps someone else!