LOTTERY SCAM
Someone calls and says you won a foreign lottery and requests that you, as the “winner,” send a check or wire money to cover taxes and fees. This is completely bogus.
If you win something you shouldn’t have to pay fees. The caller may ask for your banking information so money can be deposited electronically into your account. That’s the strategy to steal your identity and wipe out your bank account. Sometimes they use names that sound like a government agency or an official institution.
The bottom line: it’s a scam. Don’t give out any information over the phone.
UTILITY SCAM
Someone calls and pretends that he or she is from your local utility and says you owe money. If you don’t pay immediately, they say they will cut your service. Again, they ask you to wire money or use a prepaid Green Dot card. CONTINUE → or go to page 1 2 3
Got a recorded message from a 202 phone number that said I should call them immediately because there was a lawsuit filed against me. But I didn’t call. Instead, I went online and reported the phone number to Callercenter.com because I knew it was a scam.
That was smart. Did you happen to keep the number? We’re looking into some of them.