Lottery scams just never go away

The Ventura County Sheriff's Department has issued a warning regarding lottery scams.

Residents should be wary of letters or phone calls explaining that they've won something but have to pay taxes or a fee in order to claim the prize. Avoid answering any letters or calls originating from outside the United States, especially Canada or Nigeria.

Advance-fee lottery scams are still a major problem. The letters and checks are arriving at mailboxes now, just when residents can least afford to give their money away to thieves. The targets are often people who can least afford to absorb the financial loss—the elderly.

The most common scam is the phone call from someone in Canada congratulating the unsuspecting victim that he or she has won a lottery. To claim the prize, the victim is told to wire $10,000 via Western Union to a person in Canada. The money covers the taxes, fees and insurance the lottery officials require before shipping the winning check to the victim.

Another variation is a letter congratulating the lottery winner, along with a check made out to the victim. The letter asks the recipient to kindly deposit the $5,000 check into the bank, and then wire $4,000 back to the thief to pay taxes and fees before the winner will receive the real prize. By the time the victim realizes the check is worthless, he has already sent $4,000 of his own money to the suspect.

There is no such thing as paying fees or taxes up front to claim any sweepstakes or lottery in the United States. If an offer seems too good to be true, then it is likely a scam.

Many unsuspecting victims have drained their savings accounts and wired money to thieves in places like Canada and Nigeria. Many of the cases go unsolved because of the international scope of the transactions. The thieves often send professional-looking paperwork that appears legitimate to the victims. They follow up with persuasive phone calls to lure victims into sending or wiring money.

The website for the Federal Trade Commission, www.ftc.gov, provides information for consumers about a variety of fraud schemes, including international lotteries. According to the FTC, participating in a foreign lottery via the mail or by telephone is a violation of federal law.

Additional information can be found at www.secretservice.gov, which contains information regarding the advance-fee fraud scheme.