Greg Abbott
AUSTIN, Texas (Legal Newsline)-A scam has emerged involving refund checks issued under the Texas Attorney General Office's settlement with EMO Corp., the AG's office said Wednesday.
The bogus checks and an accompanying letter bear the unrelated names EMO Network Financial and EMO Logistics Marketing.
The letters promise sweepstakes winnings or secret shopper income opportunities.
The letters and mock checks tell recipients that they won $86,000. Recipients were told to send $2,860 in cash, which is covered by the enclosed check, to claim their prizes
Similar checks also have been distributed with letters notifying recipients they were selected to be "secret shoppers."
These recipients are instructed to wire $2,486 to a "training agent." They receive a mock check for $2,890 that purports to cover the training cost, Attorney General Greg Abbott said in a statement.
Under Texas' EMO Corp. settlement, legitimate checks were issued to return a portion of the funds lost by EMO Corp. account holders.
EMO Corp. was an unlicensed online money services business that was placed into receivership by the state of Texas in March 2006.
The company had received $5.4 million from account holders but had only $3 million cash on hand, Abbott said at the time.
From Legal Newsline: Reach reporter Chris Rizo by e-mail at chrisrizo@legalnewsline.com.