Is there any more information on the JP Morgan Chase mail scam?

by Kirk Mason (mason@wsbt.com)

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Liberty Financial scam, JP Morgan Chase fake check

A recent mail scam involves a letter from an alleged company called Liberty Financial claiming the recipient has won a lottery sweepstakes. It includes a fake check that appears to be from JP Morgan Chase. (WSBT photo)

By Tiffany Griffin

Story Created: May 14, 2008 at 10:47 AM EST

Story Updated: Jul 23, 2008 at 9:56 AM EST

Tough economic times have criminals targeting people looking for some good financial news.

After receiving a scam letter in the mail John McConnell of South Bend wants to know, “Is there any more information on the JP Morgan Chase mail scam?”

WSBT's Kirk Mason found out the number of scams went up when the economy went down.

His experience as a banker made John McConnell suspicious when he received what looked like a check in the mail at his St. Joseph County home.

“I said ‘Well we're in luck. We don't have to worry about not getting our refund check from the government, because we've received more here than what that certainly will be.' And she says ‘You're kidding,’ and I say ‘Yes I'm kidding!'” explained McConnell.

The letter from an alleged company called Liberty Financial claimed McConnell had won a lottery sweepstakes. But to claim his prize of $385,000 he had to pay $3,850 in Canadian taxes sent by MoneyGram. The check of $4,825 was supposed to cover it. It says JP Morgan Chase on it so we took it to a Chase bank where they confirmed it was fake.

There was even a phone number and name for McConnell to call. On the other line, nobody answered — and on the answering machine there was no room left to leave a message.

The Indiana Attorney General's Office and the Better Business Bureau both say you should never have to pay money to win money. They see scams like this a lot. A worker at Chase say they're happening a lot more since the economy went south.

From his days of working at a bank, John McConnell knows when times are tough, people are more at risk because they want to believe in some good financial news.

Another red flag for McConnell was that the letter he received didn't have a return address on the envelope.

A spokesperson for Chase told me it's very difficult to catch people doing this stuff because they are often out of the country and the money is sent to a place like a Western Union.

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