State warns of foreign lottery scams - WQOW TV: Eau Claire, WI NEWS18 News, Weather, and Sports

State warns of foreign lottery scams

Posted:
By Aarik Woods - bio | email

 

MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- The state is warning residents to be aware of recent scams involving "secret shoppers" and foreign lotteries.

   The Department of Financial Institutions says the scams have been active in Wisconsin over the past several months. The agency says one of the main techniques used by the scammers is mailing unsolicited checks to victims with instructions to cash the checks and wire most of the money to an unknown location.

   In the foreign lottery scam, victims are sent a check and told to wire funds to pay taxes and fees before receiving the entire prize.  In the "secret shopper" scam, the victim are told to rate the service of certain retailers.

   DPI says that in both cases, victims are sent counterfeit checks and are responsible for repaying the bank once the fraud is discovered.

 

Powered by WorldNow
All content © Copyright 2000 - 2013 WorldNow and WQOW. All Rights Reserved.
For more information on this site, please read our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.

Persons with disabilities who need assistance with issues relating to the content of this station's pubic inspection file should contact Director of Station Operations Lisa Patrow at 715-852-5920. Questions or concerns relating to the accessibility of the FCC's online public file system should be directed to the FCC at 888-225-5322, at 888-835-5322 (TTY) or at fccinfo@fcc.gov.