Franklin Borough Police Department Warns Public of Lottery Scams

FRANKLIN BOROUGH, NJ – Franklin Borough Police are warning people to be wary of a Lottery scam

There have been reports of residents receiving letters, e-mails, and phone calls in which it is wrongly claimed they have won thousands of dollars.

The letters are written by scam artists who aim to con their victims into handing over ‘taxes’ or ‘legal fees’ and official documents in order for the fictitious prize to be released.

In certain instances people are told to send a large amount of money and are told their prize will be mailed to them.

Fraudsters will ask for bank details so that they can transfer their ‘winnings’ into your bank, but instead clear out the victim’s account.

If you respond you will be asked to supply personal information and copies of documents, such as your passport, which they claim will be used to prove your identity. The fraudsters will then use this information to steal your identity.

• If you haven’t entered a lottery you can’t have won it.

• There are no known official lottery companies who contact people to let them know of their win and instead rely on players checking their ticket against the result of a draw.

• No known official lottery operators will ask for fees in order to release winnings. If you are asked to pay up front it’s likely it’s a scam.

• Where email addresses are provided to respond to, be very suspicious of generic addresses that end @hotmail.com or @yahoo.com – or starting with 07 – as these are free accounts.
• If you are urged to keep your win to yourself this should arouse your suspicions. Most lotteries thrive on publicity.

• Look at the standard of spelling and sentence construction. Phrases such as “Participants in this program were randomly selected.”

• If you have provided account details, let your bank know straight away.

For more fraud prevention advice, visit http://www.fraud.org.

PLEASE REMEMBER – If you haven’t entered a lottery or a prize drawing you couldn’t have won anything.

Fake lottery emails tend to claim they are from addresses outside of the United States. However, the email on this one (received by the publisher of this site), claims a tn.gov address (which is the domain used by Tennessee) and the london.com, a blogger researched and found that that domain sends emails under a different domain name to avoid spoofs like this email. Image courtesy of Jennifer Jean Miller for NJInsideScene.com.

If it seems too good to be true, then it usually is.

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