Received letter & check in amount of 4,998.00.  Believe it is bogus and will destroy

My mom also got a check for 4,998.00, but it was drawn on a Chase Bank.  It sounds like a scam, but this check looks real and it was drawn off of a real bank.  It does, however say it is to pay the taxes and the tax agent is in London, England.  It gives this same phone number to call.  My mom called it a couple of times and got no answer.  Her contact person is in Victoria, british Columbia, Canada.  His name is Steve Couch.  I assumed this was a scam.  Has anyone initiated contact with a real person on the other end?

Hi, an elderly friend of mine got a letter and a check for $3950.00 that sounds allot like your situation, Melissa.  She did talk to "Steve" today and he told her to deposit the check in her checking account and then call him back tomorrow and he would let her know more about it.  She asked how she would get her money and he said it would be Fed Ex'ed.  I’m sure this is a scam.  That just makes me sick.  If she hadn’t called me, she may of deposited that and then I don’t know quite what would of happened, but I can’t believe it would be good.