International Lottery Scam

Saturday, March 25, 2006 posted 09:45 AM EST

Imagine this: You open your mail to find a cashier's check for $3,700 made payable to you. That's what happened to Russell Peterson of Templeton. The letter says his name was entered into the Swiss lottery, and he's actually won one million three hundred thousand.

Luckily, Peterson spotted the red flags. The letter instructed him to cash the check, and wire those funds to an account in Tokyo, Japan in order to collect $1.3 million.

"I called the bank the check is issued on," he says. "The man called me back and said he's getting five to ten of these a day. That means people are cashing them.

"Now one lady, he told me, cashed one in Sacramento for $97,000, and she wired the money. So she's out. Just out? Well, the check comes back bounced, no good, they take it out of your checking account."

There's a real Gold Bank in Bradenton, Florida, at the address on the check. However, the bank says the account numbers and signatures aren't legit. Peterson didn't take the bait. He's hoping by sharing his story, he'll stop others from being taken in by the scam.

"You don't have to pay for your winnings. There's no such thing as buying your winnings," he says.

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