subject: Foreign Lottery Scams [print this page] The Lottery scam has become one of the most lucrative, global cons of the century. Initially contacted by mail, criminals are now also using Internet spyware, business directories, and anywhere else the person's name appears as a means to contact innocent marks. The person contacted is told they have won a large money sweepstakes or lottery and the con begins.
There are a lot of professional criminals who have their method down. They might even have global networks of criminals who have several workers who spend entire days emailing or snail mailing potential marks with this offer. Thousands of forms are sent out on a daily basis.
The individuals sending the letters, will have access to cell phones, and also have the name of the person being scammed, as well as the name of the person who is supposed to have sent the letter. The operator is, in this way, able to ensure that they are using the proper names and fraudulent information associated with each individual, when they are speaking with them on the phone. It is this attention to detail that makes the victim comfortable and confident in the story that they are being told, and it is also why you want to verify who your callers actually are, by utilizing a telephone service such as phonesearchers.com/740/.
Through the internet, contacting an individual by means of personal e-mail, or home address, is not difficult at all to do, especially since most homes now have internet access and use e-mail, Facebook, and similar communication methods on a daily basis. The scammers also have the capability of discovering passwords, and accessing financial information by infecting a computer with a spy virus. One way that you can protect yourself is by not opening an e-mail from someone that you do not recognize.
You'll just end up getting another email if you open up the first one. The next email you receive typically tells you that you have to pay a few fees to get your reward. Unfortunately, people fall victim and pay the fees, which then results in the other people just falling off the face of the Earth or requesting more cash.
Other parts of a lottery scam are used to obtain personal information from the victim. A letter is sent saying that certain information is required to obtain money. With this information they can go further into identity theft. When this happens it usually takes several months to get things straightened out and some people have had their bank accounts wiped out by this method.
When confronting a situation such as this it is always important to use caution. If this is done it will be evident that the person claiming to be in charge of the lottery funds is not legitimate.
Keep a few things in mind in these situations. You won't win a lottery unless you buy a ticket. For the most part, you can only buy tickets to win a lottery int he first place. Also, you won't be informed that you won a lottery over an email; it'll happen by UPS or FedEx instead. You can't let hope of becoming a millionaire overnight override your sense of clear judgment.
