South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com

July 11, 2007, By Doreen Hemlock

The perplexing phone calls and e-mails started June 29 at The Las Olas Co. of Fort Lauderdale, owner of the landmark Riverside Hotel.

Recipients of letters postmarked from Canada wanted to know if it was true that Las Olas would pay them $57,000, if they deposited an enclosed check bearing the company's name and sent that amount of money to another bank account by July 10 as an advance fee for the prize to come later.

Las Olas Chief Financial Officer Diane D'Angelo and her management team notified authorities of the scheme that hijacked the business name and faked checks from one of its accounts. The company worked with its bank, closed the checking account in question, fielded inquiries and never lost a penny in the mess.

But at least one of the thousands of letter recipients has been fleeced at least $2,000 in what's often called "advance fees" fraud, D'Angelo said.

"One person sent the cash out by Western Union to the bank account and then called us. Once the [Las Olas] check bounces, they'll be out the money they sent," she said. "This is really maddening."

The scheme offering big prizes in exchange for smaller advance fees is common nowadays, so widespread that the U.S. Postal Service already has driven many perpetrators out of the country to postmark their deceitful letters from Canada or other nations, according to the nonprofit Better Business Bureau.

A postmark on a prize letter from Canada and a speedy deadline to cash an enclosed check are two warning signs that prize letters likely are bogus, said Al Polizzi, a vice president with the Better Business Bureau in West Palm Beach.

Yet some recipients still fall victim to the scheme, eager for cash and tricked by what look like authentic checks or sound like reputable companies.

D'Angelo said the perpetrators may have copied a check the Las Olas Co. sent out to pay a supplier and then scanned the check's signature with a computer onto the fakes. Judging from the volume of calls to Las Olas and its bank, as many as 5,000 letters and fake checks may have been sent out, she said.

"I'm pleased so many people have called us, though our phone number was not on the letter. They checked online to get the contact information," D'Angelo said. "But it's the old adage: If it looks too good to be true, it probably is."

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