Possible Scam? Need Help.

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Posted: Mon Apr 16, 2007 11:43 pm

My fiance received a letter today and I am curious to see if anyone else has received it or knows if its a scam. Its a $2.00 rebate check for a purchase from Foster's Wine Estates which is a company that, when checked into is based in Australia (at least their corporate website is.) The check is issued by CMS rebate services (based in NC) and its supposedly from Citizens State Bank (in Clara City, MN.) He has zero idea why he is receiving this rebate as he hasn't purchased anything from the company, nor heard of it.

Could this possibly be a scam to get his bank info?

Master Baiter Joined: 20 Aug 2005 Posts: 187

It's possible that a relative signed him up for the rebate because:

They had already sent in for a rebate using their own address
or
They use a PO Box address and therefore are ineligable for rebates.

Seems like a more likely scenario.

Master Baiter Joined: 05 Aug 2006 Posts: 213

you better be careful and not deposit that cheque - some cheques in the US have been associated with some agreement that you would buy a years worth of stuff from some mail order cataloger

ie you deposit the cheque and that makes you an signing party to the agreement - i dont know what legal loop holes they used for this but it was legal...

Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2007 9:04 am

I've gotten a couple strange checks for 10/20 dollars and almost deposited them but as I checked them I noticed the fine print

Quote:

By depositing this check you agree to join blablabla

So basicly they give me 10 bucks and I end up owing them hundreds.
Read every inch of that check front and back. Check with friends/family that may have had it sent to you and/or call the company and ask what it's all about.
It's a bit much for 2.00 though

Posted: Fri Apr 20, 2007 10:48 am

Nothing is really free in this world, not even a 2 dollar cheque

Hello I'm New here! Joined: 21 Apr 2007 Posts: 1

As others have pointed out "Yes, this is a scam." Specifically, it is called a "negative option" scam. It is a very popular and growing scam because (in the US at least) it is legal. Although the Federal Trade Commission has tried to get law passed to make it illegal, direct marketers donate generously to Congress to ensure this is dropped from the Congressional agenda.

Read about how it works here

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2005/negative_option.html

By the way, I highly recommend the scam alert site at consumeraffairs.com in order to track some of the latest scams and scammers.

Posted: Mon Apr 23, 2007 5:12 pm

I am glad I asked before he cashed it. Thank you all for your help! Have a very nice day. Smile

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