Officials on the Federal level are warning North Carolina residents of a lottery scam that is being run out of Canada. The scam is done in a form of telemarketing and one Gastonia, North Carolina resident lost money as a result of the scam as well as many others.

The United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement had officials to recover almost three thousand dollars from the Gastonia resident after the victim paid the scam artists for his “lottery winnings”. Officials say that the scammers call the victims and tell them they have won the Canadian lottery. The scammer then tells the victim that they are an official of the United States Customs and Border Protection.

The caller then asks the victim to pay taxes on the winnings so they can receive their prize. The call of course is a scam and if the victim falls for it then they lose the “tax money” and do not receive their “winnings”.

Delbert Richburg an assistant special agent in charge of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office of investigations in North Carolina commented: “if you fall victim to these schemes, these fraudsters can compromise your computer information or at worst empty your bank account and max out your credit cards. We must remember the old adage- if it (seems) too good to be true, it probably is.”




- 2008-12-22