Officer Chris Rankin

Public Information Officer

903-798-3187 (office) 903-260-0294 (pager)

903-824-4199 (cell) 903-798-3023 (fax)

Texarkana Arkansas Police Badge

Re: Local Mail-Out Scam

The Texarkana Arkansas Police Department has received several reports of a scam that is apparently circulating through the mail our area. It appears as though it is priamrily targeting the elderly.

What we have seen taking place is that an individual will receive a letter in the mail from a company that identifies itself as "Financial Trust Processing Service", or something to that effect. This letter states that the victim has won $100,000 through Publisher's Clearing House, or Readers Digest. Most of the letters are from a business address in Canada or somewhere overseas. The letter will also contain a check from a "processing business", and the check appears to be real. In many instances the checks are written out for several thousand dollars.

The letter instructs the victim to cash the check in the United States and then mail the money to the company in Canada to cover what the letter describes as "handling, duty, and tax fees which are mandated by Federal and International Law". Only then will the company release the victim's $100,000.

The checks are worthless, and when the victim deposits the check and makes an immediate cash withdrawal they are actually withdrawing their own money. There is no way to track the suspects, or recuperate any of the victim's losses, and Canadian authorities generally will not pursue the offenders if they are ever located.

Officers and detectives are aware that this is going on in our area, so there is no need to file a report if you have received one of these letters. If you have received a letter such as this in the mail please throw it away and do not respond to it in any way. Remember, there is very little that can be done on your behalf once the money has been sent to an unknown address which is located outside of the country.

Keep in mind that this is the time of year in which scam artists are often at their busiest. If you receive any phone solicitations that you find suspicious please ask them to send you the information in the mail and try to obtain a call-back number for the organization, or an address. If the caller is persistent or refuses to give you any information then hang up.

Thank you and you can visit the Texarkana Arkansas Police Department online at http://www.txkusa.org/arkpolice.