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Wednesday, 06 January 2010 |
By Jenny Huggins
News Reporter
There is a new mail scam circulating around LeFlore County.
A concerned citizen recently provided a letter to the offices of the Poteau Daily News that he received in the mail.
The letter states that if you fill out a sheet and answer a simple question that the company would send a check for $5,000.
In the letter, the company included a self addressed envelope asking him to return the signed attachment to receive his money.
The citizen was obviously not fooled by the obvious scam but some people in the community may not recognize such a scam.
According to the Better Business Bureau the top 10 scams of the year are as follows
1. Work-At-Home schemes
2. Credit Repair scams
3. Grant Locating and Government Job-Finding offers
4. Mortgage Foreclosure Rescue deals
5. Check Collection scams
6. Advance-Fee Lending
7. Mystery Shopper offers
8. Phony Directory solicitations
9. "Free Trials" that are not free
10. Phishing, Smishing, Fake E-Cards and other ways to obtain ID information.
Poteau Police Department Detective Steve Tiffee stated that for this area, the work at home schemes are the biggest threat.
“With this economy everyone wants to make some extra money any way they can,” he said. “Another big threat is cashing checks for unknown people.”
People will send e-mails or letters asking innocent people to cash checks for them and send the money back to them via money grants or Western Union. Most of the letters that come through that are scams will come by Fed Ex or UPS, that is not to say that they can't come by the US Postal Service.
Tiffee stated that the US Postal Service is severely understaffed and can't investigate each scam.
“There are just so many people involved it is hard to track down who started the hoax,” he said.
The Royal Canadian Police told to Tiffee that the people behind these scams will rent an office space and be open for approximately five days, 24 hours a day then leave. They send a cleaning crew to destroy all the evidence, pack the supplies and furniture and to scrub away any sign that could lead to a suspect.
“Some of the scams have terrorist ties,” explained Tiffee. “Postal Services have put 50 agents on checking out-going mail and they uncovered $20 million in cash going to Nigeria, which is one of the biggest scam countries.”
“Mystery shopper scams are really bad, too,” stated Tiffee.
These scams target persons between the ages of 25 and 45. They are normally online offers but some go so far as to put ads in local papers and job web sites.
“They send packets of information which look like legitimate offers and questionnaires about the business they ask you to go to but never return money, or ask you to cash checks that turn out to be frauds,” Tiffee said.
This is a nationwide problem.
The Better Business Bureau ran a story in November 2008 which issued a warning regarding an organization posing as both the Publisher’s Clearing House Sweep-stakes and/or a Reader’s Digest Contest.
Some consumers in BBB’s service area have been sent fraudulent certificates that congratulate them on winning the “Publisher’s Clearing House” Sweep-stakes.
Other consumers have been called from “Reader’s Digest,” and were informed that they had won a sizable amount of money.
An Omaha consumer recently received a check for $1,680 with a letter telling her that she had won the second prize of $100,000 in the “Publisher’s Clearing House” Contest.
The letter stated that she was obligated by Federal law to keep this information confidential, and was given a toll-free number to contact the “Internal Revenue agent” handling her file.
The “agent” informed her that the check was to insure her prize money. Luckily, she became suspicious and notified the BBB. She did not deposit or cash the check.
Several other senior citizens from Lincoln, Neb., received calls from a person claiming to be a “Reader’s Digest” representative. One consumer was told that she had won $118 million and that the scammers would need to pick up a check for $250 at her home.
Another woman was informed that she had won $6.2 million.
She was to wire $2,700 through WalMart, along with an additional $100 to pay for the transfer.
A third elderly consumer from Denton, Neb., received a phone call from a person claiming first to be with Publisher’s Clearing House and then from Reader’s Digest.
She became suspicious and told the caller that she was going to contact the BBB.
He responded, “No, keep this confidential,” and provided a Jamaican phone number. He then instructed her to go to WalMart or Kmart and send, via MoneyGram, $550 for handling fees to a man in Virginia. She was told she would be reimbursed for the $550 within three business days, and someone would be at her door at 4:30 p.m. that day with the prize money.
Then, she was supposed to drive to her bank and the person delivering the money would follow her there. Frightened, the consumer called the BBB. She was told to inform the police immediately.
“This is a foreign lottery scam that is currently targeting many local consumers. By using familiar sounding names and titles, it tries to lure victims into sending monies to secure fraudulent winnings. When someone tells you to keep information regarding your winnings confidential, that is a red flag,” said Jim Hegarty, BBB president and CEO. “Besides losing significant amounts of money, victims can also be charged as an accessory when they transfer money in fraudulent schemes.”
BBB advises any consumer receiving similar letters or checks from unknown sources not to cash the check or send any money.
Be wary of phone calls saying you have won a prize. The real Reader’s Digest notifies all winners by mail, not by phone, and its notification letter includes a toll-free number for their headquarters.
You should always check with BBB before claiming any kind of prize to be certain it is legitimate.
Be suspicious if people ask you for money to claim a prize.
Common scams include asking winners to prepay taxes, to pay shipping and handling charges, to send a deposit or other bogus expenses. Also, never send money to someone you do not know.
Con artists ask you to wire money, send it by overnight courier, or provide bank account information so they can debit your account.
Don’t be foolish with your cash.
Never pay anything to receive a prize.
If you think you have been scammed or if you think someone is trying to scam you there are websites you can check that provide information about ligitimante offers and jobs.
Tiffee stated “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.” |
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 07 January 2010 )
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