Gina is facing foreclosure. But it seems this is only one of the many problems she has right now. She has been laid off from her administrative position, her son's spring semester tuition is due, her health care benefits are running out at the end of the month and her ex is dating again. Feeling the weight of these burdens, she was encouraged by the official looking letter from a Prize agency which arrived in the mail. Gina always enters contests because she feels her luck will have to turn sooner or later. She has not really won anything but a watch at a bazaar once, but she keeps hoping.
So she tore open the letter on her way back from the mailbox. Inside was a prize notice with a Cashier's check for $500.00. The notice stated that she had won a lottery for a Special Olympics fundraiser that was held the previous week. The enclosed check came out of the winnings and would cover the cost of the administrative fees that needed to be paid in order to claim the prize. Gina was thrilled. She took the check to the bank and deposited it. She felt that things were looking up for her. The letter also stated that she provide her bank account information so that the remainder of the prize money could be wired directly in to her account. The money would be wired just as soon as she sent the administrative fees required to the lottery address ($495.00). Gina wrote out a check for the stated fees and mailed it out that day. And then she waited for her prize money to be wired in.
And she waited. She checked her online balance several times a day, excited about seeing the wired funds being deposited into her account. After one week, she still did not have the funds. She did however have a message from her bank that the Certified Check was not good and had bounced. The check she wrote to cover the administrative costs of the lottery had been cashed. Her bank account was down $495.00. Realization finally dawned on her. She had been scammed.
Gina wants others to know how this happened to her. She is an intelligent woman in a bad situation. She thinks that if her whole life had not been in such a shambles, she would have thought this through and realized that it was not for real. There was no lottery, no administrative costs and no prize money. She wants others to know that these scammers prey on people going through rough times. They may have obtained her information from the foreclosure records. She does not know.
- Requests for bank account information so that your prize money can be deposited directly into your account.
- If you receive a check as part of a prize notification, assume it is counterfeit. If you deposit it, wait until the check clears your bank account before drawing against it.
- Requests to mail money to cover administrative fees involved in processing our winnings. A legitimate lottery would deduct such expenses from your winnings.
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