This is the check and letter received recently by a Lehigh Acres family informing them they had won several thousands dollars, but they were told not to cash the check until calling a special number. The Lee County Sheriff’s Office says such scams are widespread and the public should never give out any personal information about their bank account or Social Security number to anyone who sends them such mail or who emails them or appears at their front door. Photo by Mel Toadvine

Shirley Emswiler of Lehigh received a letter what appeared to be from Publishers Clearing House. That’s what the top of the letter said anyway and it looked official. Along with the letter was a check for $5,935.00 made out to her from Time of Your Life Enterprises, not Publishers Clearing House.

She said the letter addressed her by her first name and said the team at PCH (Publishers Clearing House) was pleased to “officially announce your name as the second place winner of the 7 million Dollars ($7,000,000) Grand Prize Draw, sponsored by Reader’s Digest Magazine. The total amount to be claimed for second place is one million U,.S. dollars ($1,000,000). Congratulations!”

But before she could cash the check, Emswiler’s husband, Jim, said it looked pretty strange to him. The letter instructed her to contact someone at a certain number “before” depositing the check and “for further information on his prize.”

The letter stated she should contact a woman named Fletcher at a 1-888 number and was told to use a security code number that was printed in the letter. The letter was signed by “Christopher Porter, chief final officer of Publishers Clearing House.”

Her husband brought the letter and the check to The Lehigh Acres Citizen which called the Economic Crimes Unit of the Lee County Sheriff’s Office.

Sgt. Jonathan Washer said these so-called checks and letters from Publishers Clearing House were among the latest schemes to get suckers to fall for a scam and for the perpetrators to get your money.

“It works like this. You call the number they give you and you ask for the person’s name and they will ask you for the security code which is on the fake letter. You’ll be asked personal information about your bank and its account and often asked to deposit money into an account of which they will give you before you can cash the check.

“The best thing to do with this stuff is tear it up and throw it away,” Washer said.

He went on to say that there are lots of scams that crooks are trying to get people to fall for and the public should not fall for any of them.

“Never give anyone your banking account number on the phone, even if they say they are calling from your bank. If it is a legitimate call, tell the caller you will call back to the bank. Then look up your bank’s number. It’s the same if you get an email from what appears to be your bank saying they are doing an audit or whatever. You will be asked to supply your bank account number and your Social Security number.

“Don’t do it!” he said.

The Sheriff’s Department of Economic Crimes is constantly issuing alerts monthly to residents of Lee County to beware of people calling you, emailing you or coming to your door to tell you that you have won something and then they ask you for your private financial information.

“Again, don’t do it,” he said.

You can send email that tells you have been selected to win a prize to IC3.gov, which is a clearing house to handle complaints about scammers.

“The important thing is do not ever send out money to anyone you do not know.

And locally, if you receive suspicious mail or someone knocks at your door with such news, call the Sheriff’s Office immediately. You can send the letter to the Sheriff’s Office, too. These letters and other bits of information are saved for possible prosecution.

“As in the Emswiler family incident, they did the right thing. They did nothing,” Washer said.

The Citizen told Washer it was going to call the number and pretend to be the person who received the mail to see what type of information they wanted.

Several calls were made. The first one went to the extension of the woman listed in the letter but her email asked you to leave your information in her mailbox. The newspaper hung up and left no messages.

Then a few days later, The Citizen called the number again several times and all that it got was “Hello, Goodbye,” and the connection was broken.

Authorities believe the reason is because the scammer or thieves were shut down.

But Washer repeated his warning.

“If you didn’t enter a contest, there is little chance you have won thousands of dollars. And if you did win something you would be notified through the proper channels. You will never be sent a check and told not to cash it until you call the people who sent it to you.

“If you do, their intent is to empty out your bank account,” he warned.

Many people who have computers and are on the Internet get emails every months about someone in Nigeria or the UK saying they want to transfer millions and millions of dollars into your account from a foreign bank and they need help to get it deposited in a U.S. bank. You are asked to contact them.

When you do, you will be asked your bank account number and told to deposit such and such an amount in their account so they can send you the rest of the money.

“Don’t fall for these schemes,” Washer warned. “I can’t emphasize enough to people that if it doesn’t look right, then it more than likely isn’t right.

Jim Emswiler said he told his wife immediately after she opened the mail that it was a scam.

Washer also noted that a lot of these scam letters come out of Canada with a postage stamp and not a postal machine rendering. Companies like Publishers Clearing House use postal meters that are used by most large companies, not stamps from Canada.

This was the case with the letter from “Publishers Clearing House” and the envelope had no return address. Publishes Clearing House, which offers prizes and sales of magazine subscriptions is based in Port Washington, N.Y., not in Canada.

Finally, Washer said when you get mail that informs you that you have won something, you will often seen golden seals on them which make them look official.

“Ignore all those things. They are just things to make you think it is officials. It’s nothing but a scam.