Readers's Digest
Complaint 29128 Details

I received a letter from Reader's Digest that states:
Dear ---------,
This is to inform you of the release of our SWEEPSTAKE DRAW held on Oct. 02, 2011. Among the 112 participating finalist playing 6000 full tickets in the fifth series from a pool of one million dollars (1,000,000) in cash. Your ticket number 32964-09 drew the lucky numbers 78-43-89-19-35 which won the prize in that category. Therefore your number has been approved for a lump sum payout of Five Hundred Thousand Dollars (500,000) in Cash credited to the file ref. number R458-D522.
Our credit department has recently notified us that over the past six weeks, there was no winner form submitted due to failed efforts to communicate with you or the agency taking care of your winning. You are hereby advised to keep this award confidential until your claim has been processed and price remitted to you, this is part our security protocol to avoid misconduct or double claiming by some of our participants. This notice is time sensitive and non-compliance could result to disqualification by which unclaimed funds are returned to the unclaimed department.
Since we do not deal directly with the public, to begin your claim, this notice has been forwarded to you from one of our licensed and bonded North American Agencies and a copy would be sent to the insurance company. The Check enclosed has been sent by our insurance company to help you cover any charges that may be required before you receive your funds. YOU ARE HEREBY REQUIRED TO CONTACT YOU AGENT MR. RICHARD BAKER AT 1-888-961-5888. CALL BETWEEN 7AM-6PM PACIFIC STANDARD TIME. TO ACTIVATE YOUR CLAIM BEFORE YOU DEPOSIT THE CHECK IN YOUR BANK, THIS IS IMPORTANT.
Congratulations and we are looking forward to hear from you.
Sincerely,

John Cain
Prize Disbursement

There was also a check from AMERICAN HOME ASSURANCE COMPANY in the amount of $2750.22, written on a realistic looking check from Chase Manhattan Bank in Syracuse, NY.

Folks, this is a HUGE SCAM that when you call your agent, they swear this is not a scam, they congratulate you, and say they will activate your check once you deposit it. However, in the meantime they ask you to wire them $2400.00 via Western Union to a place in Washington State. Then you will get a call from your bank letting you know that the check you deposited from them has been cancelled and you are out your $2400.00. And when you call them back, NO ANSWER!
Folks, DON'T LET THESE LOW-LIFES CON YOU OUT OF YOUR HARD EARNED MONEY. Remember, if it's to good to be true, it probably is! If you go on Google and type in your ticket number from the letter or your lucky numbers, you will see numerous letters identical to yours on these SCAM ARTISTS. Don't be a victim, how these low-lifes continue to get away with this is beyond me but in this hard economic time with folks looking for work and desperate for funds, they seem to pray on the weak and vulnerable. There were to many RED flags for me to bite personally but I know there are folks out there that won't do their homework and research these things. DON'T BE A VICTIM, PLEASE!