Atlantic Financial Fraud Warning

Fraud and Fraudulent Lottery Scams

There has been a significant amount of fraud regarding loan and lottery payouts, in some cases with individuals posing as Atlantic Financial, Merrill Lynch, Citi, Credit Suisse or using similar names of reputable companies.

Atlantic Financial does NOT have any involvement with loans or lottery payments. Our main office is located in Norwell, Massachusetts, near Boston, and we do NOT have offices in Montreal, Toronto, Ontario or anywhere in Canada or anywhere in Africa.

If you have received a letter or a call saying that you won a lottery prize but you must send money before you can collect, it is FRAUD. If you have received a check in the mail from a company with a similar name to ours it is fraudulent. If you send money, you will lose it.  Similar notices related to loans are also fraudulent. 

Do not cash any checks or communicate with loan or lottery representatives claiming to be with Atlantic Financial.

Some common fraud practices:

an advertisement is placed in local American newspapers for loans - when citizens call they are approved for the "loan" but require a loan processing fee - once this fee is sent it is stolen
- there is no actual loan

mailings are sent to random citizens telling them they have been approved for a loan or won the lottery - again, a fee is required

a check is mailed to a citizen, the check appears legitimate but is not - this is used two ways, one the check is cashed (and bounces) but the original is sent back to the perpetrators who then use the bank routing information to commit fraud or, secondly the check is cashed but the citizen is asked for a smaller amount of money as a tax fee or other fee - this smaller amount is stolen and the original check bounces

citizens are contacted and informed that someone from another country wishes to wire them money for safekeeping, asset transfer or some other reason - perpetrators will use the wiring instructions to commit fraud

In general, avoid providing any information to these individuals. Fraud perpetrators can be clever in using information that seems harmless to defraud citizens. The best bet is to avoid communicating with them in any way.

Contact the Authorities

The best way too help stop fraud is to report it. If a scam artist has contacted you or if you have been the victim of fraud, contact the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) at [webmaster note: we used to have a link here to the FTC website but the site is often down or broken or has redirects or other odd issues, unfortunately the FTC has very little understanding of the internet and how it works, don't shoot the messenger, call your Congressmember]

or 1-877-FTC-HELP. Also contact your local authorities, your state attorney general, your Secretary of State, the FBI, the US Department of the Treasury (Secret Service), Phonebusters.com fraud reporting line, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and other authorities. Only report to recognized fraud authorities and law enforcement agencies, unfortunately some online fraud reporting agencies are, in themselves, fraud.

The FTC gathers evidence, identifies fraud trends and alerts law enforcement throughout the U.S., Canada, and abroad. By reporting your experience, you can prevent others from becoming victims and help put an end to fraud.

Contact the FTC:
or 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357).

Please make it clear in your report that the company was posing as us or another legitimate company.

Contact your representatives

Sadly, every year many people lose their hard earned money to fraud of this type.  Unfortunately most regulators and enforcement authorities have little time, interest or resources to pursue these criminals.

Atlantic Financial is very interested in any information leading the identification, arrest and conviction of any fraud perpetrators posing as our company.

If you have evidence of fraud perpetrators posing as Atlantic Financial, please send a copy of it to us via email or fax it to 1-617-608-9028 so that we may retain it in our files.


Thank you.