Cons, Frauds and Scams
Lottery Scams
Remember, it is illegal in the United States to
participate in foreign lotteries and if you put a fraudulent
check into your bank account you may be subject o criminal
charges.
We have heard from many seniors who have received letters
about the Spanish Lottery, "El Gordo." The letter tells the
senior they have won a large sum of money and they will receive
their money after they send thousands of dollars for custom fees
or taxes. A woman in Phoenix just lost $20,000 to this fraud
scheme. Please do not get involved in foreign lotteries -- they
are illegal and they are a scam. Remember, you should never
have to pay any fees to collect a prize.
The lottery scam is still active. In this scam, someone
approaches the victim in a parking lot and tells them that they
have a winning lottery ticket, but because the person is an
illegal immigrant they cannot cash in the ticket. So they offer
to sell the victim the ticket so that they both benefit. They
even go so far as to pretend to call the Lottery Office to
validate the ticket. Victims in Tucson and Phoenix have lost
nearly $150,000 to this scam.
We have also received notice that Canadian lottery type
scams are active. In one version, a woman received a letter
stating that she was due a court settlement of $152,000 but
first had to pay a "non-resident tax" of $9,000. The letter was
from a Montreal address. Please call police if you receive these
types of letters or telephone calls. We will forward the
information on to Project Colt in Montreal that handles these
scams.
Recently 8 people have fallen victim to a lottery scheme
in the Phoenix area with a lost totaling over $100,000. Suspects
approached these people in various parking lots and told them
that they had won the lottery but because they were illegal
immigrants they could not collect the winnings. The suspects
volunteer to call the lottery office and when they do someone on
the phone tells you that you can represent the suspects and
collect the winnings for them if you bring in $20,000 for taxes
to the lottery office. Once the money is in the envelope with
the winning ticket, the suspects distract the victim and replace
the envelope with on full of paper.
There is a new twist
on the Canadian lottery scam. First of all, if you receive a
call that you have won the Canadian lottery and they ask you to
send a sum of money to cover custom fees or taxes -- it's a
scam. Report the call to the police with as much information
about the caller as you can provide. Now there are letters
coming out of Canada that tell a senior that they are to receive
a court settlement, but must first pay "non-resident tax." They
even send a check to cover the tax that is to be deposited into
the senior's account. The problem is the check is a fake, and
the senior ends up losing money out of their account.
Mesa Police Department
PO Box 1466
Mesa, AZ 85211
480-644-2030