Story Created:
Aug 5, 2008 at 5:39 PM MST
Story Updated:
Aug 5, 2008 at 6:41 PM MST
Tuesday, August 5, 2008- Newschannel 9 Troubleshooters have a warning for you about a lottery scam.
Celeste Paz got a check for $4,600 dollars in the mail from Oppenheimer Financial in Toronto, Canada, along with a letter that said she won a lottery. To collect the rest of her winnings she needed to deposit the check and send the company $3,600 dollars to cover taxes. She deposited the check, and got a letter from her bank, GECU, saying it was returned.
"I have no words. I never thought it would happen to me. Now that I've learned from it I would never ever believe it." says Paz.
In a statement from Teresa Montoya who handles public relations for GECU, she says quote:
"The check's appearance does not give any indication that it is fraudulent. Our employees are trained to notice checks that have the word "lottery" or are written from known scams."
Newschannel 9 tried to call Oppenheimer Financial and their phone was disconnected.
As for Celeste, she owes the bank $500 dollars and they're allowing her make payments with no interest.
