Posted on 5/26/2005, 5:04:33 PM by BenLurkin
LANCASTER - Most of the junk mail that 81-year-old Warren Davis receives at his Lancaster home goes into the trash can without so much as a second look. But something caught his eye three weeks ago when he opened a letter from the International Lottery Commission in Madrid, Spain. The letter claimed he was the winner of $615,810, and unlike other mail prize notices, this letter included a telephone number and fax number. Davis thought perhaps it was worth investigating.
It turned out that he should have filed the letter in the garbage along with the rest of the junk mail.
Davis nearly became one of the thousands each year who fall victim to anonymous money scams. It was only when he tried to send a $2,000 Moneygram transaction to the address in Madrid that he was alerted by Moneygram officials that the International Lottery Commission was a fraud. His money was returned without being forwarded to Madrid.
"I am very grateful," Davis said. "I get letters by the dozen. My intuition told me this just can't be for real, but it had a telephone number and a fax number, and they were the only company to do that."
Prize or sweepstakes letters are among the most common scams, said Lisa Scates, senior public safety officer for the city of Palmdale. The scams victimize people of all ages and races, but the elderly seem to be a favorite target.
"They think that seniors will have a retirement fund or a lump savings and they feed on three big fears: failing health, loss of income or placement in a elderly home," Scates said.
Davis said he is aware of scams targeting seniors and took certain precautions before sending the money.
When asked to give his account number to lottery officials, he went to Wells Fargo, a place where he had never banked, and opened an account with $100.
"I didn't want to let them into my main account," Davis said. "I was suspicious from the get-go."
Davis' wife was not in favor of sending the commission any money, but Davis thought it was worth the risk. "I said, even if I lost this money I didn't have to worry about whether I could pay my bills," he said. "I justified it by thinking if I went to Vegas I would have to put up the money first to gamble."
So he went to West J Mail N' More on May 19 and ordered a money transaction through Moneygram. The story of lottery winnings didn't pass the smell test with store owner Magali Scott.
"My wife told him, 'This stinks,' " Warren Scott said. "This sounds like fraud. He wanted to proceed. She told him he should be careful." Mail N' More took the money transaction order and sent it to Moneygram, the check issuer.
Officials there had already heard about the International Lottery Commission and knew it was not a legitimate organization. They put a hold on the money transaction, Magali Scott said.
Davis was alerted to the information and the check was returned to him. Magali Scott said this was the first time a money transaction originating in her store had ever been flagged as going to a fraudulent company. After a few pre-dawn phone calls from International Lottery Commission officials in Madrid, Spain, Davis said he hasn't heard from the organization since Monday. He said he doesn't have a clue how they got his name and address.
?
Do I really need a sarcasm tag?
It's a photo of a Nigerian 419 scammer that lowbridge in turn scammed into making fools of themselves.
634-5789.
Send me money too, dumbass.
Classic advance-fee fraud.
I get a dozen emails a week from scammers trying to make me think I won money in a lottery I never entered. It's just a variation on the Nigerian fraud, which offers you huge amounts of cash (you're related to a deceased bank customer, you have been chosen to receive money to be used for charitable purposes, a widow in a refugee camp needs your assistance to move funds, etc.).
The tactics are always the same. They claim you'll receive money if you send them a processing fee first. In reality, the only money that changes hands is your cash to their hands.
Let's be careful out there.
Good show, LOL. Scambaiting can be fun.
WOW!
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