Yesterday, we discussed the fun that could be had at Costco with a fake shopping list. Today’s story involves a fake check that looks like it comes from Costco but is just a variation on a classic scam.

KIRO-FM in Seattle reports on a Washington woman who received a rather convincing looking check for $3,980 purporting to be from Costco, drawn on a Bank of America checking account.

Except, as those of you familiar with scams probably already guessed, that $3,980 check also came with a letter saying the payee had won something called the MEGA LOTTERY and all she has to is deposit the check and then wire money to someone in London and, well… thankfully, the recipient of the bogus check wasn’t naive enough to fall for it.

“Inevitably a couple days later ‘boing’ the check bounces,” a lawyer from the Washington Attorney General’s office tells KIRO. “You’re out the money you wired. The bank holds you responsible for the funds that have been bounced, and you’re just really in a bad place.”

After the woman received the scammy check, a KIRO reporter posed as her husband and called the supposed lottery agent who had sent the letter.

The check and letter had come from the UK but the agent’s phone number was Canadian. The reporter asked why, if the check was for lottery winnings, had it come bearing the Costco name. He was told that it was because the recipient’s name had been pulled from a list of Costco shoppers.

In spite of the prevalence of these types of scams, people continue to fall for them and hand over thousands of their own money believing that they will eventually receive hundreds of thousands back in return.

Fake Costco checks look so real, you might not realize it’s a scam [MyNorthwest.com]

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