If it is too good to be true it usually is
20 September 2010 | Duchesne, UT
Jodee
Today is September 17th and just before 9:00 am I received a call from Agent Wilson Garrett with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). He was telling me that Random House was trying to get in touch with me and since they have not been able to do so they turned my claim file over to him. He said that I had been awarded the second price award of $275,000.00 dollars. He said that I had to contact Random House at 718-878-5599 to see if I still qualified to collect, that there may be some limitations. He gave me the case number of F650R146 and his phone number which is 214-989-6858. I got off the phone with him and called Random House and received a recording stating that they open at 9:00 am and it was 8:56 am. I called back at 9:11 am and spoke the person that answered the phone and told her that I spoke to Agent Garrett and explained the situation and she transferred me to Phil Gray who asked for the case number and said that he would call me back after he pulls up the file. About five minutes later he called and confirmed that I have won the award. He told me that the reason that I could not be reached is that the Post Office returned it back to them and that is being invested why. He said that I had to call my FTC agent and he would direct me on what needs to be done.
So I got off the phone with Phil Gray (Random House) and called Agent Garrett back. He gave me information and then told me about a part of the Patriot Act that requires that a bond be in place before the money is delivered, that I had to pay for the bond which is 1% of the receiving amount, in this case would $2,750.00, however Publisher Clearing House does not believe that is right so they were able to drop it down to $1,950 and I told him that there was no way I could pay that and explained that we live on Social Security. He said that he would see what he could do, that I may qualify for a hardship. He called back in about a half hour and said that the lowest price was $1,000. Now this is to be a bond for $1,000. When talking to Agent Garrett I asked him "how do I know this is not a scam"? He told me that when I post the bond I would have a receipt and I could track it on the internet. I asked him again how can I know if this is a scam or not and he responded by asking what I required for proof. I told him if I know that I would ask for it. He said he did not know how to prove it to me. I asked him to get the specifics on how to do the bond. He said that he would and he will give me a call back.
While I was waiting for the phone call, I did some investigating myself. I goggle the Federal Trade Commission. I called and asked if Wilson Garrett work there and they could not give that information out and transferred me to the Customer Fraud Service. I told them what happened and they said that they do not make calls and it sounds like fraud and took the information and filed a case report to investigate. They also said that if you really WON an award you DO NOT PAY to get your money. If you have to pay any money for any reason then it is probably fraud. Since I am on the do not call list that may be a violation also.
I also call the police and told them what happened and they also said the same thing that the FTC said. They took the information and filed a case report and will also investigate.
Moral of the story is If it is too good to be true then it is and Do Not Give any Money to receive any awards or winnings. There is more to this story than I am posting. I am posting this so others can learn from what has happened to me.