Lottery scams go ‘Oprah’

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There were real sweepstakes held at Oprah.com mid-last year. But if anyone were to receive a check recently about winning a lottery “sponsored by The Oprah Show and Walgreen”, it is the latest variant of the advanced fee scam utilizing fake checks.

btw, we don’t think we should call it a “xxxx scam”, because it will ruin the name of the xxxx party. For example, a scam using Coca Cola’s name should not be termed as “Coca Cola Scam”. We think it should be called “Fake Coca Cola Scam”. In this case, we should call it “Fake Oprah Lottery Scam”.

Some key points in the news:

“The letters and checks are props in an especially devastating form of
consumer fraud — conning check recipients into believing the checks
are real, persuading recipients to deposit the checks into their banks,
and even conning them into wiring their own money to the scamsters.”

“The letter states that the check covers a clearance fee that will allow
them to collect a lump sum award of $81,561. Recipients are asked to
contact a telephone number and directed to wire $2,600 via Western
Union to a third party. The third party is, in fact, part of the scam
and the consumer will never receive a sweepstakes prize.”

Read the rest of the news.