With unemployment rising and the cost of nearly everything going up, who wouldn't want to believe that they had just won a small fortune in the lottery? And that's exactly what scammers are counting on.
The Atlantic Lottery, based in Canada, is a long-running scam that has tricks thousands of consumers into depositing phony checks in the bank, then sending real money back to the scammers. In the last week ConsumerAffairs.com has received several reports from readers who say that the scam is still active.
"I got a letter stating that I just won 248,000 US dollars from a lottery," Cassandra, of Shullsburg, Wisconsin, told ConsumerAffairs.com.
Cassandra called the toll free number and was told that yes, she had in fact won nearly a quarter of a million dollars, even though she had never heard of Atlantic Lottery or entered any kind of contest. With the letter was a check for nearly $5000. Cassandra was told to deposit the check, then wire the same amount back to Atlantic Lottery to cover taxes and fees. Fortunately, Cassandra didn't follow through.
"I was told by my bank that it was a scam," she said. I never got my hopes up because I knew something was fishy."
Patricia, of Ocean Springs, Mississippi, had a similar experience.
"I received the same email with a check to deposit in a bank to pay taxes on money that I have supposedly won," she said. "I decided to do some research and I read the emails about the scams and the dollar amounts are the same as the others. I hope someone will try to stop this type of scam."
Vicky, of Mundelein, Illinois, says the letter is designed to look like it is from a friend. It has a typed address label but no return address. It bore a Canadian stamp. She says the letter was detailed, telling her she won a drawing held on a specific date and even told her what her winning numbers were. Vicky, of course, had never entered any lottery or sweepstakes and she didn't fall for it.
Melissa, of Keymar, Maryland was visiting her mother-in-law when she opened a letter stating that she had won $248,000 from Atlantic Lottery. While her mother-in-law called the toll free number, Melissa Googled Atlantic Lottery and found previous ConsumerAffairs.com complaints about the scam. She got on an extension, confronting the scammer on the other end of the line, causing him to hang up.
"Please, this is a huge scam. Tear up the check and throw it away," she advises.
The Federal Trade Commission says Canadian Lottery Scams continue to rob U.S. consumers of millions of dollars each year, but there may be hope this trend could be coming to an end. The four potential victims were all contacted in the last week, but none of them fell for it.
Just for the record, it's impossible to win a lottery or sweepstakes if you didn't enter.
