Western Union Check Scam

Just a heads up for anyone savvy enough to check on too good to be true offers and deals online. My wife filled out a form online one day, I’m not sure where or for what, but she entered our phone number and address. We received solicitation phone calls already, but the latest attempt to extract our hard earned cash is interesting. The company name they are using this time was Fidelity Assurance Company.

Here is the letter:

My wife came to me with a letter saying that she had filled something out online and they wanted her to be their “secret shopper”. They also enclosed a check for $1,995 made out to my wife. The check looks real, but it is too good to be true. Read the letter. As their secret shopper, the first thing they want you to do is to test out Western Union. You transfer $1,455.00 plus a transfer fee of $125 to someone named Theodore Fransisco in the city of Atlanta. That info may be different on your letter, but rest assured these crooks are just trying to scrape a nice chunk of money from your account when you send them the money and your bank takes any money they may have given you back.

The envelope the scam came in was from Canada with no return address, and the bank on the check is the First National Bank A l a s k a. It is spelled out on the check just like I wrote it. Whatever you do, don’t send them any money or bother cashing the bogus check. Here is a link with lots of other folks that received the scam.