Help Me OOT, This Looks Like A Scam, But Unable To Find Anything

[grandgnu]

My wife enters a boatload of contests throughout the year online. Today I get a letter in the mail stating the following:

[ QUOTE ]
GREEN SPOT CLAREMONT CALIFORNIA PAYMENT CENTER


RE: AWARD WINNING NOTIFICATION


This is to inform you of the release of the North America Prize Pool held on Friday, December 15th, 2006 in which your name was drawn randomly. You have been accorded a 3rd tier winner status. Your total winnings are Seventy Five Thousand dollars ($75,000) in United States funds. Congratulations!



Enclosed, please find a check of $2250.00 which covers both the administrative payment and clearance fees of your winnings. For authorising and processing of your prize, please contact our North American agent, XXXXXXXX, whitout further delay, (insert canadian phone number here). Your winnings must be claimed no later than Friday January 5th 200 by 5pm ET.



Your name is attached to batch number (xxxxxxxx)



Please remember to quote your batch number in all correspondence with us in order to avoid unnecessary delays.



On behalf of our staff and sponsors, I wish you all the best and happy holidays in advance. We look forward to hearing from you before Friday January 5th 2007. Once again, congratulations!



Congratulations!


Edward Bartlett
Prize Coordinator

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm usually pretty good at hunting down hoaxes and scams online, but damned if I can't find a lick of evidence on this one. I left out the contacts phone number and name, as well as my batch number from the above.

But what strikes me as "scammish":

1. I'm a "3rd tier" winner yet my prize is 75 grand? That's pretty generous

2. There's a check, which lists Claremont, CA and Green Spot as the originator on it, and it seems legit. But then they say this is to "cover both the administratirve payment and clearance fees of your winnings" which sounds shady (i.e. I expect them to begin asking me for my bank account info if I call)

3. The letter, despite touting California and Green Spot, also sports an address in ON Canada. In addition, the envelope doesn't have a return address listed, nor did I have to sign for this or anything.

It all just seems way too good to be true, and there's a lot of stuff that seems fishy. Anyone got details on this one or know where I can go to check on it's legitimacy?

[goodsamaritan]

Scam.

Paging Idi....

[FlyWf]

The check is fake. No actual sweepstakes work like this(why wouldn't they just mail you the $75K?).

If you need confirmation, call the bank the check is from. But that's the scam. You cash the check, mail them $2250, their check bounces, you end up out $2250.

[captZEEbo]

[ QUOTE ]
For authorising and processing of your prize, please contact our North American agent, XXXXXXXX, whitout further delay, (insert canadian phone number here). Your winnings must be claimed no later than Friday January 5th 200 by 5pm ET.



Your name is attached to batch number (xxxxxxxx)

[/ QUOTE ]No agency giving away this much money would make such ridiculous spelling errors.

[grandgnu]

[ QUOTE ]
The check is fake. No actual sweepstakes work like this(why wouldn't they just mail you the $75K?).

If you need confirmation, call the bank the check is from. But that's the scam. You cash the check, mail them $2250, their check bounces, you end up out $2250.

[/ QUOTE ]

Good timing, I was actually in the process of tracking down the bank the check originates from. I'm on the East Coast, but it appears I likely just missed their closing time on the West Coast.

Wanted to verify the validity of the check, but figured this was all too good to be true. Darn, 75K would've been nice. I'll have to wait until Tuesday to contact them and let you all know what I find out from the bank, thanks!

[cardcounter0]

There have been many rings based in Canada running the lottery scam, surprised you couldn't find anything.

[grandgnu]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
For authorising and processing of your prize, please contact our North American agent, XXXXXXXX, whitout further delay, (insert canadian phone number here). Your winnings must be claimed no later than Friday January 5th 200 by 5pm ET.



Your name is attached to batch number (xxxxxxxx)

[/ QUOTE ]No agency giving away this much money would make such ridiculous spelling errors.

[/ QUOTE ]

They're Canadian, Eh?

[grandgnu]

AHA!

Found something awfully similar:

Similar Canadian Scam

[CORed]

I would deposit the check and try to claim the prize, but if they ask for money, social security number or bank account or credit card information, hang up the phone. My guess is that they will ask you to pay "administrative payment and clearance fees" out of your funds, and the check they sent to cover it will bounce, and you will never hear from them again. If by some miracle the check clears, you've gained $2250, but the Jan. 5 deadline makes me think they are trying to get money from you before their check bounces, hoping that you're too dumb to ask why they would send you a check and then ask you to pay them back, instead of just keeping the money.

[grandgnu]

[ QUOTE ]
I would deposit the check and try to claim the prize, but if they ask for money, social security number or bank account or credit card information, hang up the phone. My guess is that they will ask you to pay "administrative payment and clearance fees" out of your funds, and the check they sent to cover it will bounce, and you will never hear from them again. If by some miracle the check clears, you've gained $2250, but the Jan. 5 deadline makes me think they are trying to get money from you before their check bounces, hoping that you're too dumb to ask why they would send you a check and then ask you to pay them back, instead of just keeping the money.

[/ QUOTE ]

Sounds "abooot" right!

Yet More Info On This Exact Scam