Natchez man avoids getting scammed
Published Tuesday, September 30, 2008
NATCHEZ — When Chris Jackson received a check in the mail for $4,875 it seemed too good to be true — it turns out it was.
The check, issued by Mutual of Omaha Bank, was supposedly the award for a Visa and MasterCard sweepstakes. The check was to be used to pay the taxes on the winning. Jackson was then supposed to contact the awards committee and tell them the bank account information so they could deposit the rest of the money.
“It looked legit, it really did,” Jackson said. “I’ve entered sweepstakes. I was excited, I was shocked really. And that’s when I thought, ‘let me check this out.’”
The contest letter listed several major sponsors, including McDonalds, Target and Walgreens. A bank employee also told him the check looked real.
“The thing that made me doubt it was, they said ‘have you used your Visa in the last eight months?’ and I haven’t had a Visa in two years,” Jackson said. “When I called Mutual of Omaha they said, ‘Oh no, don’t cash that check.’ They said it just happened to another lady in Florida the day before I called here.”
After the scammers got bank account information, they would begin making withdrawals, bank representatives told Jackson. They would take out the original $5,000 and then continue to make bad withdrawals until the account was frozen, causing major credit problems.
The letter came in a plain white envelope with the name Omaha Corporation, LTD. It also listed the phone number, 1-647-219-1858.
If someone gets one of these letters they should contact the police, their local bank and the banks that issued the check, a representative of Mutual of Omaha Banks said. They could also simply shred the check.
“They’re definitely investigating on our end,” the representative said. “We’ve seen some of that here in the last month or so. I think as our name went national, people took advantage of it.”
Natchez Police Sgt. Craig Godbold said that if one of these checks comes in the mail, it should simply be thrown away.
“If they get a check for nothing, that’s usually what it’s worth — nothing,” he said.