INTERNATIONAL LOTTERY SCAM

[ACPD Brownlee]

This week we received noticed of another lottery type scam coming from outside of the United States. The scam is a typical lottery scam, which states you have won a large sum of money; however you must cash an attached check, send them the money to pay tax, import fees and such on your large winnings, before you receive the large amount.

This particular scam is more threatening because the letter and check sent to the victim bears the Wal-Mart logo and the logo for Publishing Clearing House. The use of these two logos lends the victim to believe they have actually won a lottery from these two major companies.

The announcement has an enclosed check for $3,890.00. There is an instruction letter telling the winner to cash the check, and then send the money to Nova Scotia Canada via money gram or Western Union.

The transfer is then used to pay your fees and taxes so that you can get “YOUR BIG PRIZE”. The only prize the winner receives is a returned check and the loss of the transferred amount from their bank account.

If you, your family or a friend receives this notice, please do not cash the check, it is NOT a valid bank account. Please call your local Police Department to report the incident. As always if you have any questions regarding lottery announcements, please feel free to contact your local police department, the District Attorney, or the California Lottery Commission.

[Issa]

I get types of these all the time in my email. If you get an email one make sure you forward it to the abuse department. For example if the email came from bob@yahoo.com forward it to abuse@yahoo.com.

Also if it comes from bob@yahoo.com but says "email bob@aol.com for more information", forward it to abuse@aol.com instead.

[ACPD Brownlee]

Sorry Issa, I mustn't have been clear about the type of announcement. The letter is a traditional letter and with it is a check payable to the "lottery winner". The check and letter of course are frauds.