Better Business Bureau Cautions People against Lottery Scam

The Better Business Bureau has cautioned people about a new phishing scam which falsely makes e-mail users believe that they have won a huge lottery prize. However, they end up revealing personal information as well as losing a large sum of money.

The scam e-mail tells the recipient that he can receive the prize money by sending some cash for meeting the transmittance fees or tax deposits. Hitherto, one or more unwitting persons have been cheated of about $80,000 by this ongoing scam.

The e-mail senders pose as representatives of the BBB. In certain instances, they even deceptively sign off as actual employees of the agency. Therefore, on doing some research, the victims find an original profile of an employee on the Net.

Security researchers comment that scams revolving around lottery wins perhaps represent criminals' most preferred kind of fraud, as their existence have been for many years.

Steven Cox, President and CEO of the Better Business Bureau, states that a lot of people are fighting to cope with the current economic turmoil; therefore, when they hear that they have won a massive prize money in lottery, it may appear a boon. But he alerts the public that the BBB has never been or nor will conduct any lottery or give away a prize award, as reported by American Consumer News on February 7, 2010.

The BBB reiterates that if any consumer gets an e-mail, a letter or call saying that he has won the lottery, the person should check out the following details to avoid getting trapped into a fraud. He should verify the facts by contacting the BBC, or in other cases, the organization whose name is mentioned in the message regarding the authenticity of the message itself.

Apart from this, as a rule, people shouldn't ever spend money for receiving money. Typically, fraudsters launching lottery scams make big bucks by making their victims believe that it is necessary for them to make an up front expenditure for covering taxes, or charges for claiming their prizes. However, people can notify such scams to the BBB by calling at its number - (800) 222-0950.

Related article: Better Business Bureau Warns Users against Twitter Money Making Scams

» SPAMfighter News - 2/23/2010