Newbern police warn of possible scams

This is the check a Newbern resident was sent by C.T.F. Group Inc. Accompanying the check was a letter informing him that he had won a sweepstake and lottery drawing. He was to use the check to pay the nonresident government service tax, which had to be paid before the winnings could be released. The tax agent was listed as being in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia.

A Newbern resident recently received a letter saying he had won $150,000 in a sweepstake and lottery draw. Along with the letter was a check made payable to him for $3,545 to cover the nonresident government service tax. Although the letter didn't say where the drawing took place, a tax agent was referenced to be in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia.

The company letterhead on which the letter was written was from C.T.F. Group Inc. and said it was a division of C.T. Group Ltd. The check listed the checking account to be at Educational Community CU (CU usually stands for credit union). Educational Community Credit Union recently changed their name to Community First Credit Union. The Newbern man was suspicious and took the check to a local bank to verify the routing number. The check was discovered to be worthless.

A letter accompanying the check advised the resident to contact his assigned claims agent, Mary Holts, before he was to do anything else with the check. There were two numbers listed for Holts. A search of the phone numbers determined one number was in Minnesota and the other was in Ontario, Canada.

A State Gazette reporter called the Minnesota number and there was no answer or voicemail. On the second call to the Ontario number, an automated phone service answered giving the choice to enter the party's extension. After entering the extension number, a woman identifying herself as "Mary" answered. She was asked if she would answer a few questions, and said she would. Upon asking her if she worked for C.T.F. Group Inc., she replied "no" then a click was heard and the phone went back to the menu, and "Mary" was unable to be reached again.

An Internet search for the company also turned up other complainants saying the company is bogus

"Scams can come by mail, e-mail, telephone or even in person," said Newbern Police Chief Harold Dunivant. "The Newbern Police Department encourages everyone to be on the lookout for scams and frauds."

As scams of this nature become more frequent, residents are asked to use a little common sense.

"If you receive a check payable to you and you know you shouldn't be receiving a payment of this nature, please verify the payment at your local bank before any further transactions are made," said Newbern Police Investigator Rodney Wright. "If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to call a local law enforcement agency."