CANADIAN LOTTERY SCAM

ALERT

The Barrington Hills Police Department has received several complaints about international lottery scams over the past several months. 

The lottery scams usually target the elderly and request that they send money to an out of Country location via Western Union . The Canadian Lottery scam is used to trick people into sending money to claim a large cash prize that does not exist. When the money is received the elderly person is usually called back and told to send more money because they have been upgraded to a larger prize which would require additional funds to cover the non resident tax and handing fee.

The elderly person is also told that the money will be delivered by a personal driver or delivery person and on the day of delivery the target person is called back and told that the driver can not make it because or car problems, or any excuse the caller can think of. Consumers also are bilked by providing bank and credit card numbers after being informed that their winnings would be transferred into their account.

The Barrington Hills Police encourage everyone to avoid contact whatsoever with advance fee schemes and international lotteries. The money that you send will likely be lost forever. Additionally, when consumers try to contact the company the phone number is usually disconnected or a phone answering machine may pick up and request that the elderly person leave a message.

Additional information is available at the following web sites;

www.ag.state.il.us , www.ftc.gov , and www.phonebusters.com