Mr. Bob, as he called himself, said that $2900.00 of the check amount had to be paid to “Washington” for taxes on the winnings. (next red flag – taxes on $55,000 should be more than $2900.00) I was instructed to deposit the check and call Mr. Bob back to make arraignments on paying the $2900.00 and decide how I would receive the rest of my winnings. My choices were to have the winnings directly deposited in my account, cashiers check or money order. As I hung up the phone I started to get excited, thinking maybe the sun has finally shined on us.

THEN! My logical brain caught up and said “NO WAY”, something is just not right. I googled “The North American Lottery” and not to much of a surprise countless complaints about returned checks and scam artists. UUUGHHH! No free money for us! I found the number for the bank the check was drawn on. The address if the company “LexJet Corporation” was the same as the bank list. At this time I knew for sure that it was a scam, but I called the bank anyway. The response was just as I had thought, the check is no good and the bank agent gave me th number to the Canadian Authorities that are investigating the scam.

I called Joe at the toll free number and gave him the information. It seems that everyone in our county with a mailing address was sent the same scam. The letter varied and so did the check amount, but it was the same concept from the same company. Cash the bad check, wire them $2900.00, give them your banking information and BOOM – YOU’RE BROKE!

If you have received a letter like this one or a check please call Joe at the Canadian Fraud Department 1-888-495-8501. They are working with the FBI and USPS to try and catch these thieves. It is bad enough that many of us are already down on our luck we do not need someone out there trying to totally destroy us.

An article on our local news station is warning that “sales” men are trying to scam elderly people into buying products at ridiculously high prices, products that they could purchase much cheaper at the local store. The part of this scam that truly boils me over is the way the scammers get the phone numbers for these “prospective” clients. They are placing “raffle” boxes at local businesses, usually raffling off a “free” meal. When you fill out the entry form, you include your name, phone number and AGE. These “sales” men then find the elderly people (which are on a fixed budget) and call them to say “you won a free meal”. When these people arrive at the restaurant they are greeted by a salesman that pitches products to them at astronomical prices. Products like fire extinguishers and smoke detectors, stating that their old ones are not working or inefficient.

The Local Authorities in ARGENTINE TOWNSHIP, Mich do not know who these “sales” men are, so BEWARE! If it is happening in communities here chances are it is happening where you live too. Please warn the people that you know and alert authorities to anything even smelling like a scam.

People like this are dirt, the dregs of the earth, instead of going out and making an honest living, they would rather ruin someone’s entire life to get ahead. Keep you eyes open and help catch a scammer.

Universal Gas & Electric promises it’s customers a “lock in” rate on their utility bills for five years. They entice people by scaring them with the threat of higher natural gas price, saying things like

“when the cost of gas increases your rate will stay the same.”

What they fail to tell you is that their rate is already HIGHER than your current rate and you will only benefit if the cost of natural gas goes “extremely” higher. This company also fails to notify their prospective customers that once they sign they are locked into a contract for five years with a $250 cancellation fee.

My personal experience in looking into this company has taught me to stay away and warn others. Over a year ago we began receiving promotional flyers for this company in our mailbox. They were offering a lock in rate for two years at $1.09 a CCF for natural gas. Our utility provider was only charging us $0.89 a CCF at the time, so wondering why I would switch I read the fine, fine print were it proceeds to briefly mention the “lock in” contract. Red Flag for me, but giving them the benefit of the doubt, I continued to check the CCF price on our monthly gas bills. For the last twelve months our rate has fluctuated from month to month, but never exceeding $0.96 a unit that is still well under the rate that Universal wanted to lock us in at. Salesmen representing the company have also appeared at my door a few times. Those poor fellas did not know that I knew the dirty little tricks of their company. They actually insisted that I show them my current utility bill, so that they could see what rate I would be eligible for. I went on to explain that I would not show them my bill and what our average usage was. They kept stating that they could not provide me a rate without the bill, so I asked them about “the contract”. As one salesman eyed my electric meter the other flat out LIED stating that there was NO CONTRACT! At that time both gentlemen said they would come back later when I had more time to find my bill. I had no intentions of showing them my bill and they never returned.

As I read the article on our local news site  about the company being investigated it broke my heart. People that are most effected are senior citizens and low income households. In our failing economy in Michigan who wouldn’t want the promise of saving money on your heating bills. Now these residents with a fixed income are encountering higher bills, and locked into a contract they can not afford to get out of!

On their website Universal Gas & Electric states

Universal Gas & Electric Corporation is a wholly owned subsidiary of Universal Energy Group, a publicly traded company on the TSX. For more information on investor relations see universalenergygroup.ca

According to Business Week

Universal Energy Group Ltd. announced the release of its financial results for the three month period ended December 31, 2007. The company earned revenue for the three months ended December 31, 2007 of $80.1 million compared to $46.6 million for the 2006 period.

That’s almost double the revenue, scamming innocent people out of their hard earned Money.

If you are a victim of this scam you may visit Universal Energy Scam – and how you can get out of it. A very good article posted at Cheeze Wiz and Mustard.

Universal Energy Corporations Survivors Page – a self-help site educating people on how to get out of this mess