Scam checks in-the-mail

(WTNH) - There is now a warning about scam that could be targeting you. Something you may find in your mail box, is not what it appears to be.

Chances are if you receive a letter telling you that you won a sweepstakes you never entered, it's a scam. And if you're asked to send money to pay fees, police say you can be sure of it.

Look familiar? The more stories we do about sweepstakes scams the more people tell us they've received bogus checks.

"It was a check and it said I won the Australian lottery," Barbara Kinney, a recipient, said.

The letters may vary but the scam's the same. The recipient is asked to cash the check and then send money to cover fees. News Channel 8 called the number on this latest letter.

Detelj: "How did she win the lottery when she never even bought a ticket?"
Person on the phone: "Hold on a second please."

On the phone: Attorney Cecil Golden whose name is on the letter, insisting this is not a scam and he was canceling the check even though we never told him who received it.

Detelj: "So you're saying this is not a scam, sir?" This question was met with a dial tone after the supposed Attorney Golden hung up.

You may be surprised who also received one of these letters. Jessica Trueblood, 16-years-of-age, got a check from a grant company.

"I was like maybe it's from all my volunteering or my college applications or something," she said.

Jessica's mom opened it first.

"I panicked," Tammy Trueblood said. "Because if I wasn't home she probably wouldn't have known much better."

Not only did Tammy intercept the letter but she took it upon herself to check it out.

The number on the letter was no longer in service so she searched the internet and was able to contact Biocrest Direct Grant and Steven Walter whose signature is on her letter. And he claims he had absolutely nothing to do with those letters.

Jessica says she wouldn't have been fooled. But when asked if other kids her age might be, she replied, "Definitely. I mean it's so easy. I mean it looked like a real check."

The main reason, people tell News Channel 8, they call us about the letters and checks they receive is because they want more people to know about it so they don't get fooled.