Notice Promising Car Is Likely A Dead End

A mailing that promises a new Buick or $15,000 may be “a lot of sizzle and not enough steak,” a U.S. postal inspector said.

Thousands of people nationwide, including at least a dozen Spokane residents, received the notice promising in large type a new car or cash.

Look for the small print, authorities warn.

U.S. Postal Inspector Jim Bordenet said a group calling itself Adams, Dunhill, Trump, and Associates of Bohemia, N.Y., asks in the mailing for $22 in advance.

“The bottom line seems to be you’ll send $22 to get a box of something,” said Bordenet, who works in Seattle.

The notice says a drawing will be held in 1996 and the winners will be announced in 1997.

“We believe there are hundreds of thousands that have been mailed,” Bordenet said.

Dale Cornwell, a manager at Becker Buick GMC in Spokane, said he and other sales representatives have taken about a dozen calls about the notice.

“I’ve never seen anybody get a car,” Cornwell said. “We’ve had a bunch of calls. I wonder what’s going on.”

George Nichols, a South Hill resident, also wondered what was going on when he got his notice in the mail.

He asked a friend to call a Buick dealer and learned the company isn’t involved in the mailing.”If they can get a million suckers to go for this they can get $22 million dollars,” he said.They’re not getting a dime from Nichols.

Bordenet said federal postal investigators had asked the U.S. District Court in Boston for a temporary restraining order to stop the company from posting more notices.

A federal judge refused, but authorities are continuing to look into the company.

, DataTimes