Foreign Lottery Scam Hits Anne Arundel County

Wednesday, March 29, 2006 posted 02:12 AM EST

ANNAPOLIS, Md. Anne Arundel County State's Attorney Frank Weathersbee announced this morning that an alarming scam has found its way to Maryland.

The office received a call this morning from 63-year-old Arnold resident Charles Alfred, who opened his mail up last night to find that he was the "lucky" winner of the Spanish Lottery. Alfred tells WJZ's Richard Sher he knew from a recent seminar he'd attended that the letter was a scam.

"I called Anne Arundel County State's Attorney Frank Weathersbee because I don't want seniors to get ripped off," Alfred says. "The pie in the sky isn't there."

The bottom of the "Spanish Lottery" letter, indicated that all the winner" need do is fill out their banking information complete with account number, routing number and PIN and the money would be shipped. Those that fill out and mail that information back in to the PO box listed will find only that they have empty bank accounts in the coming days.

Weathersbee says seniors shoud understand the system in order to protect themselves. "What people need to know is that there are no foreign lotteries in the United States. They are illegal whether your notification comes through the mail or the internet," says State's Attorney Weatherbee. "If you receive this kind of notification you can be assured that it is 100 0x0.07ffdca28184p-1022 scam. That it's only purpose is to con you out of money." He added, "It's also important to alert family and friends who may be vulnerable to such scams such as senior citizens and make sure they don't fall victim. Each year thousands of individuals are scammed out of large quantities of money because they don't know that these very official looking documents are frauds."

State's Attorney Frank Weathersbee is currently in the process of starting a new program that focuses on Elder Fraud and Identity Theft in Anne Arundel County. The CASE partnership (Communities Against Senior Exploitation) is an effort to teach the county's seniors and those with aging parents how to empower themselves against the growing problems of these types of economic crimes.

In order to reach these groups the office will be partner with faith communities (churches, synagogues, etc.) and fraternal organizations (Elks, Knights of Columbus, etc.) to present a series of seminars for their memberships. These seminars will teach valuable skills to both young and old. At the sessions participants are educated as to how scams, frauds and ID thieves work. They are then instructed as to how to avoid falling prey to them. The "partners" then receive monthly Fraud Alerts to share with their congregations/memberships. These alerts contain invaluable, up-to-date information about the latest scams circulating and their targets.

This project first started in Denver, CO and has proven to be extremely successful. The Anne Arundel County State's Attorney's Office was chosen as one of 26 sites from across the country as a replication site. A grant from the U.S. Department of Justice paid for the training conference in February as well as replication material templates. The office hopes to train other prosecutor's offices around the State.

The information provided in the seminars is extremely useful in educating seniors on the matters of fraud and identity theft. As part of the seminars participants receive a free "Power Against Fraud" handbook, as well as, a neck wallet they can use when shopping or traveling. We are currently looking into securing a corporate sponsor for these items.

Anyone wishing to have the Anne Arundel County State's Attorney's Office provide a free seminar to their membership should call (410) 222-1740 ext. 3845

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