1. They come in all different styles from all different countries. But one things is always true about foreign lotteries; they are ILLEGAL. The Silicon Valley Better Business Bureau received a copy of an email sent from The National Lottery in the United Kingdom. In typical “foreign lottery scam” format, the con artists claim that there has been a mix up of numbers and that the recipient is now one of a handful of lucky winners. The “Online coordinator” then offers a telephone and a phone number for the recepient to contact to start the claim. If you have received this email or a similar one, DELETE it. The only things these people are after are your money.
2. A consumer in our service area was recently contacted by the South German State Lottery. This was not a typical foreign lottery. The company is asking for individuals to purchase tickets rather than saying that they have actually won a prize. The tickets cost anywhere from $25 to $1190. The company asked our consumer to pay by check, money order, traveler’s check or bank transfer. Please use caution when dealing with these companies. Never give any personal information to an organization claiming to be a foreign lottery.
3. Wouldn’t it be nice if the government gave away money to individuals just for being a good citizen and for paying taxes? Some scam artists have been posing as government officials and offering federal grants to individuals for the very reasons listed above. One consumer, who was contacted by the American Grant Information Center located in Campbell, CA was told that she had won $7500 that was tax and interest free. The only catch was that she could not spend the money on drugs or gambling and that she needed to provide them with her checking account number so that they could deposit the money into her account. When the date the money was promised to her had passed, she found that rather than obtaining a grant, $264 had been taken from her account.
4. Ever received an email stating that if you pass it along to friends you will be compensated with cash or other gifts? As much as we would like to believe that Bill Gates is giving away free money, this email, and others like it, is a hoax. Snopes.com gives an in depth investigation on this email at http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/nothing/billgate.asp. While these types of emails are usually not a threat to one’s financial security or identity, they are a waste of time and could potentially contain viruses. If looking for the legitimacy of a chain email letter, there are various web sites, like Snopes.com that discuss such matters.
