Local Man Scammed Out Of Over $3000
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When a letter arrived in his mailbox, 62 year old JW Sutton started to pay no attention to it until a check for 2,940.30 fell out. Getting his attention, he began to read the letter that was included inside the envelope.
According to the letter, Sutton was a “Final Award Winner” for a $50,000 prize and all he had to do to claim it was deposit the check they had included and send the funds to cover taxes to a company calling itself Fortune Point Finance. This was on the 31st of August. Sutton said, “I should have known this was a scam but I just kept telling myself that this was the blessing I had been waiting on”.
The check looked real enough but he was still a bit leery of its authenticity. So Sutton decided to deposit the money but wait until the check cleared his Regions checking account to send the money the company was requesting. “I figured if the check cleared that it was legitimate” he said.
On September 6th when he checked his account, there it was, the bank had cleared the check. Sutton said “I thought they are for real! So I celebrated with pizza and Coke.” “I thought, finally something to dream about that will actually come true.”
Mr. Sutton lives in public housing and is on a fixed income. He thought, “I can finally replace that old van I drive” a van that took him 2 years to save for. “I spent that money a dozen times in my head”.
When the money cleared and was credited to his account, he immediately went to make a withdrawal. This was on the 6th, the final day to claim his winnings according to the letter he had received. He proceeded to the Western Union and sent the money to the company, confident that his prize would be on the way.
Within a day he called Fortune point Finance and asked about his winnings. “I was shocked” he said. They told him that he needed to send in 750 more dollars to receive his winnings. “I still thought they were legit, I just thought they were trying to make more money on the transfer”.
Although Mr. Sutton desperately needed the money, he did not have 750 dollars to send. “I was pretty confident that I would not be getting the money at that point” he said.
What he did not figure was the original 2900 dollars would be deducted from his account. That happened on the morning of September 13th. “I was devastated.” “I just kept telling myself to calm down because I have a heart condition and if I got upset, I would end up at the hospital”.
The biggest hurdle for Sutton at this point is his housing. “My check for my rent has not gone through yet” he said, “If that bounces, it only takes 7 days for them to evict me.”
Sutton has called the police, the bank and the Governor’s Office of consumer affairs. “I just want people to know this has happened and for them not to fall for it too.” At this point, Sutton is not sure what the bank is going to do “I am waiting on their call” he said. RomeNewswire has a call into the bank as well and it has not yet been returned.
As for the company, Fortune Point Finance, we called them as well. Once they found out we were not Mr. Sutton and that they would not get any more money, they hung up the phone, presumably to speak to other “50 thousand dollar winners”.
