Lottery and
inheritance scams have become a popular form of fraud.
Fraudsters are able to produce documents, such as checks or
award letters, which appear authentic. Victims can be easily
fooled by the convincing appearance of the communications and
the promise of money.
Here
are a few tips to share with your clients:
If you
didn’t play a lottery, you didn’t win
Ignore
communications from foreign lotteries.
Legitimate
lotteries don’t require winners to pay fees to collect
winnings.
Check with
relatives about recent deaths in your family.
Never give
out personal or financial information to anyone over the
Internet or telephone.
Be very
skeptical of unsolicited letters, calls, or emails informing
you that you’ve won a lottery.
