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As the economy stumbles, scammers flourish
posted by GJ on April 7, 2009 @ 11:54AM
Check out this story on Consumerist. A gal gets a very official looking notice that she's won second prize from Publisher's Clearing House--you know, the outfit that Ed McMahon for years plugged, ringing people's doorbells and handing them a gigantic check. She also gets a check for almost $6k as a "down payment on her winnings, and that she'd have to wire back about $3,700 of it to cover some kind of admin costs to arrange fulfillment of the full winnings. This is known as a lottery scam, and they're nothing new. Any time you get a check you weren't expecting, especially for a large amount of money, you should check it out pretty carefully--no matter how official-looking the material that came with it looks. Decide to deposit it? Don't use the money for at least two weeks. Whatever you do, don't ever wire money back, or to a third party as part of the transaction. See, the scam is simple--they give you a bad check up front, and have you wire a smaller amount back to them. The check doesn't clear, and the monies are taken back from your account--but you are still on the hook for the amount you wired. See how the scam works? Wire transfers are notoriously hard to track down--chances are, once you're at that step, you're out the money permanently. That said, don't email this to everyone you know. Point them to this blog instead! :)
| Tags: scam, education
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