My daughter had this happen to her a few months ago - she was supposedly in London and needed money to get home. My husband also got a check for $24,000 from an outfit that said they were doing a survey of Western Union's customer service. They wanted him to deposit the check in his checking account, wire $19,000 to them, and keep the $500 left over. It's so sad to think that there are such awful people out there - and that really nice people get caught in these traps!