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| Consumer Fraud |
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Lottery Scams with an Identity Theft Twist
The classic lottery scam with some identity theft thrown in on the side to help trick you out of your money while damaging your credit
Lottery scams are hardly new and all of the elements of this version are tried and true scam artist methods designed to trick people
out of their money. The latest incarnation of the lottery scam involves a local business having its identity stolen. Then the perpetrators
of this fraud can send you checks drawn on the businesses account. This means that this crime has potentially two victims: you and the
business that had its identity stolen. Not only that but you are going to look really, really bad when the check you tried to cash bounces
and the scammers are long gone.
Here's how this lottery scam works:
You will receive some authentic looking documents indicating that you've won $500,000 in the Australian lottery and enclosed will
be a check for close to $5,000. There will be instructions on how to claim the prize and somewhere in the letter will be something
about how you need to pay a fee which is what the check is for. All you need to do is cash the check and send it in the form of a
money order to their offices in Canada and await further intructions.
Sounds fine and dandy right? You've got a check to cover the fees right? What could go wrong? Unfortunately the check is written on
the account of a local business that's had it's identity stolen and by the time you've deposited the check and sent the money order
off the Canada the check will bounce and you will realize what's happened. Names of business and countries involved may change but
the details of this scam are very old. Your first red flag should be that you've been told that you've won a lottery you never entered.
Your second red flag is that it's a lottery in another country. Your third warning sign is that you are asked to pay an advance fee
to claim your prize. It's the paying of the fee that is at the heart of all lottery scams and the one you should pay the most attention
to. Never send a money order or cash or a check to claim any prize. The only person that's going to win money in this lottery is whoever
you sent money to.
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