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Be wary of Internet lottery scams, says OAG
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Posted on Mar 12 2012
A CNMI resident recently contacted the Office of the Attorney General to discuss the $800 he sent by wire transfer to a person who contacted him via email. He received an email that said he had won a lottery involving Facebook and/or Europe. The resident was the victim of a scam. The AGO forwarded the information to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The scammers told the victim he won second place in a lottery but to receive his winnings he had to pay taxes and processing fees upfront. He ended up wiring about $800 that he will likely never recover.
In these uncertain economic times, people often look at these scam solicitations as a miracle solution to their problems. They want to believe they will get easy money, and their problems will go away. Also, they are lured into a sense of security because the scammers claim associations with well-known companies such as Google, Facebook, Microsoft, MasterCard, etc.
To avoid being scammed:
– If someone says you have won a contest that you had no involvement in, you should immediately suspect fraud.
– If a lottery or contest says you won, but requires you to pay a fee before getting your “winnings,” you should immediately suspect fraud.
– Remember that if something sounds too good to be true, it usually is.
If you have been a victim of this type of scam or any other cyber crime, you can report it to the Internet Crime Complaint Center at www.IC3.gov or to the FBI or the Office of the Attorney General. [I](Office of the Governor)[/I]
