The lottery scam is one I hear about all the time. A check arrives in the mail for a large sum, but should you cash it or toss it out with the rest of the junk mail?
“I go out to the mailbox and its full, I open it up and its someone wanting me to send them twenty bucks and they’ll send me millions,” Larry, a Utah resident tells KSL-TV. Larry, like millions of other consumers received a tempting deal in the mail, a check, in his case one for $4,000. The check was from “America’s Mega Lottery” and was to cover taxes, insurance and handling fees. Once that was paid Larry would enjoy a quarter of a million dollars.
“I was tempted with that, that’s why I called my daughter and told her to come look at it,” says Larry. Larry’s daughter did look at the check, spent some time researching and found it was a scam, one that could of left her father out thousands of dollars had he had cashed it.
The thing that always stumps consumers is the fact it’s a certified check. Here’s the thing; it’s a copy of a certified check, one that’s already been cashed a thousand times over. When the check is cashed and the bank realizes there is no money, you’re responsible for covering the amount and paying them back.
A legitimate lottery will NOT ask you to send any money so you can toss that check in the mail. Plus, if you didn’t enter a contest how could you win?
