I received a called yesterday around 9:00 or 9:30 a.m. from a man named Alvin Clark and he claimed that I had won $25,000 in the MGM Grand Sweepstakes.  He was surprised that I wasn't excited, but I had heard of too many stories about slimy little criminals who have cheated honest, hardworking citizens.  He wanted me to pay a delivery fee because of course they couldn't possibly take it or the taxes out of the check.  He let me know that I could pay for it upon delivery and that he would call me back in a couple of days.  I'm sure the idiot is probably reading these pages that we're submitting and thinking of yet other ways to commit more fraud.  My hope and prayer for him is that he gets everything he richly deserves here on this earth and when he finally meets his maker!

Answered the third call from this number today and the "gentleman" on the line said that he was with the FTC and that my name was entered in Publisher's Sweepstakes and that I won $350,000.  Obviously I knew this was a scam so I asked him to send me something via email or snail mail.  He said that he would but then continued by telling me that because of 9/11 Patriot Act I was required to get a bond/insurance through Lloyds of London in the next 24 hours in order to get my $350,000 check sent to me!  I couldn't waste any more time on this but it just amazes me that they must have some success with this . . . . I'm having financial problems so my guess is they feed off those who are struggling.

who is calling from this number. they called 3 times a day, i work night shift and they dont leave a message.

I received two calls from a man who claimed to be from the Federal Trade Commission. During the first call he said that I had been chosen as the winner of a sweepstakes prize of $250,000.00 from MGM Grand.  I had just come home from the hospital after having a fourth open heart surgery and told the caller that I was not coherent enough to deal with the matter but that I was a sceptic about such things.  He ended the call.  About two weeks later I got another call from the same man and he said that I had won this sweepstakes and that he would have to fax me some documents, I never recieved said fax nor have I heard from this caller again.  Out of curiosity, I went on the internet and found that I was not the only one who had received such a call.  I feel maybe the scammer felt bad enough about my condition and did not follow through on his attempt at scamming me.  Lucky Me...!

Got a call from Jim Wright this morning, He went on and on about the $350,000.00 I won from P.C.H. I even talked to him about getting calls from scammers and he said I should report them.  
So where do I  report him?

800NOTES POSTED THIS SCAM MONTHS AGO UNDER NEWS
18 May 2010
?Hi, I?m calling from the Federal Trade Commission to tell you that you have won $250,000??

The FTC has issued a warning alerting the public that someone who claims to work for the Federal Trade Commission calls to inform that the callee has won a lottery or sweepstakes.

The scam goes like this: The caller informs you that in order to receive the prize all you have to do is pay the taxes and insurance. He or she then asks you to wire money or send a check for an amount between $1,000 and $10,000.

The caller might suggest that the FTC is supervising the giveaway. He or she might even use the name of a real FTC employee. Your Caller ID might display the Federal Trade Commission?s name or a Washington, DC area code.

Don?t be surprised if you receive repeated calls and follow-up faxes. No matter how convincing the impersonation, you should never send money to claim a prize. No FTC employee will ever call to ask you to send money. Legitimate sweepstakes companies won?t either. Many older consumers and their families have reported this kind of scam, but anyone could be contacted.

Keep from falling for the lure of sweepstakes scams by taking a few precautions:

?Don?t pay to collect sweepstakes winnings. If you have to pay to collect your winnings, you haven?t won anything. Legitimate sweepstakes don?t require you to pay ?insurance,? ?taxes,? or ?shipping and handling charges? to collect your prize.

?Hold on to your money. Scammers pressure people to wire money through commercial money transfer companies like Western Union because wiring money is the same as sending cash. If you discover you?ve been scammed, the money?s gone, and there?s very little chance of recovery. Likewise, resist any push to send a check or money order by overnight delivery or courier. Con artists recommend these services, so they can get your money before you realize you?ve been cheated.

?Look-alikes aren?t the real thing. It?s illegal for any promoter to lie about an affiliation with ? or an endorsement by ? a government agency or any other well-known organization. Disreputable companies sometimes use a variation of an official or nationally recognized name to try to confuse you and give you confidence in their offers. Insurance companies, including Lloyd?s of London, do not insure delivery of sweepstakes winnings.

?Phone numbers can deceive. Some con artists use Internet technology to call you. It allows them to disguise their area code: although it may look like they?re calling from Washington, DC, or your local area, they could be calling from anywhere in the world.

?File a complaint with the FTC. If you receive a call from someone who claims to be a representative of the government trying to arrange for you to collect supposed sweepstakes winnings, file a complaint at ftc.gov or call 1-877-FTC-HELP. Your complaint will be most useful to enforcement officials if you include the date and time of the call, the name or phone number of the organization that called you, the FTC employee name that was used, the prize amount, the amount of money requested, the payment method, and any other details.

Got a call from the FTC -- Jim Wright.  He wanted me to get an insurance bond through Lloyds of London in order to collect a $350,000.00 "prize" I had one...I never entered any7 sweepstakes.  SCAM!

the very same experience happened to my father - they gave him numbers of IRS - BBB - all numbers made up by them -- we checked with our BBB local office and were explained that it is a scam.

he was supposed to dial a certain extension of the IRS number and everytime he would dial it, the
line would be cut .

thank you for posting this - it was useful to understand that we were not the only victims.

I got the same call.  He gave me the name Charles Clark claiming I had won money from Publishers Clearinghouse.  He said he was from the Federal Trade Commission and they were making sure I was given the money.  He gave me a phone number to Bank Of America who then gave me a phone number to the IRS.  These numbers were fake.  They had messages as if they were the real thing and people pretending to be at these businesses.  I called the real IRS myself and they laughed.  DO NOT FALL FOR THIS SCHEME!!.  They try to convince you to post an insurance bond as the other person posted.  What a scam!!!

The idiots called me and tried to get me to post a 48 hour insurance bond. I immediately reported "Charles Clark" of the FTC Consumer Response Center to the REAL Federal Trade Commission. DO NOT GET SCAMMED!

My mother got a call from this number. They claimed she won money and all she had to do was send them a check for $2,000.00 - A HOAX!!!