The Halifax County Sheriff's Office has received a complaint from a county resident who reported they received a letter from National Finance Company in Canada. The company sent a check for $4,850 with the promise of $125,000 from the winnings of a sweepstake, Maj. Bruce Temple said in a press release.

After phone conversations, the victim was enticed into cashing the check at a local convenience store and wired  $3,150 to the company for a "non-resident" tax. After the transaction, the company stopped answering the victim’s calls.

 Temple said typically these cases are not within budgets to investigate for local agencies and federal authorities are rarely are able to prosecute. “We would recommend that people should be skeptical when approached with a ‘too good to be true’ event. We would like for potential victims to call the sheriff's office prior to sending any money to a suspicious entity.”