Meet the Scam: International Lottery Fraud

Welcome to National Consumer Protection Week! Credit.com and CreditBloggers.com are joining with the Federal Trade Commission to educate consumers about fraud and scams. One of the features we're going to do this week is "Meet the Scam," where we profile the most common fraud crimes. Today's scam was named the #1 fraud crime of 2006 by ConsumerAffairs.com. That's right, its the Fake Lottery! Let's take a closer look:

Name: Lottery Scam

The Pitch: The fraudsters contact potential victims by letter, email and phone saying that they've won a large cash prize in an international lottery. All the victim needs to do is send a release fee and pay the applicable taxes to receive their windfall.

Samples: Fraudaid.com has an extensive library of lottery scam letters and emails.

The Results:  The amount of money lost to this scam varies between hundred to tens of thousands of dollars depending on the victim. In one case, an elderly Kansas man lost $300,000 to the scam over four years.

Location: The fraudsters are assumed to be Canadian since the money is wired to Canada in most cases.

Prevention: Remember first that if you never bought a lottery ticket, it isn't likely that you won the lottery. And always be extremely suspicious about contacts that want you to wire money overseas. This is a common tactic used by fraudsters because the money is very hard to trace. As nice as it would be to win the lottery, it pays more to be extremely cynical of this scam.

Solution: This growing scam seems to be getting the most attention from Canadian law enforcement and anti-fraud agency, PhoneBusters. Reports to US agencies are often ignored due to "jurisdiction issues." A government task force for investigating this type of international scam would help with stopping fraudsters on this side of the border. Also, if money wiring companies such as Western Union provided more assistance to consumers dealing with fraud.

Have you been contacted by lottery scammers? Or were you a victim of this scam? Share your stories and tips in the comments section below or by email to tidbits@credit.com.