A Tucson, Arizona, woman who said she was playing a free Internet lottery game was bilked out of nearly $100,000, according to sheriff's officials.
The woman contacted the Sheriff's Department on Oct. 20 and told deputies about the lottery game called Universal Swiss Lottery, which she said she had been playing on the Internet. The game required no money to play.
In March 2004, the woman said, she was contacted and told that she had won 2 million euros, according to the Sheriff's Department, which is publicizing various scams to warn people.
The "Mr. Wilson" who contacted her by e-mail said he worked for a company called Swiss Union International in London.
The man asked for money to pay the taxes and other fees associated with money she had won from the lottery.
The victim sent the man $45,000 through Western Union. She later learned that the man no longer worked at the London company and that her account had been transferred to another person.
By August 2005, the woman told deputies, she sent the second man another $45,000.
The woman then received a phone call from a man in Nigeria saying he was handling her account and was trying to get her the lottery winnings. The victim sent this individual $1,900.
The victim was then contacted by another man who she said was a lawyer in the United Kingdom. The man asked her to send him some money to help him collect her lottery winnings.
The woman said she didn't have any money, so the man sent her mail with traveler's checks totaling $8,500.
The woman was instructed to deposit the checks at her bank and then wire the money through Western Union to three people.
The woman deposited the checks and withdrew $8,500 from her bank account.
However, the bank notified the woman's husband the traveler's checks were fraudulent before the woman sent her own money to the three individuals.
Four strikes and you're out!!
I don't trust "free" games. I also would never send someone thousands of dollars for so called taxes either.
pure greed and stupidity
No legitimate lottery asks you to send money as a prerequisite to collecting your prize.
She's a fool, plain and simple.
It boggles my mind that so many people will empty their bank accounts for so-called free money. All these people would have to do, is do a little research on the subject and they would see that these things are scams. But nope, they just jump right into it, expecting thousands or millions of dollars for nothing.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me four or more times, empty my bank account and make me look like an idiot in front of the world, shame on me.
Buy 'em books and buy 'em books - they chew on the covers. The only crime greater then greed is stupidity.
If she visited Lottery Post first to read posts about scams then she might have saved herself some money.
No legitimate lottery asks you to send money as a prerequisite to collecting your prize.
She's a fool, plain and simple.
How come I never come across these gullible people? I could quit spending money at the terminals.
HAPPY THURSDAY........"M&M/POWERBALL BOARD MEMBERS........11/3/05
It's BOTH sad & amazing....however, any "FOREIGN EMAIL" that I recieve, "with the exception of my Spanish and French Cousins, whose names I can pronounce".......is Trashed without even opening them. I have rec'd some LOTTO JUNK from London, and never opened it. Solicitations from other Countries, and these scammers wouldn't know me if they knocked me down running for the Subway..................It's amazing how people throw their money to the wind, without talking to/or writing the Offical Lottery Boards for information. Even "BLUE DOG" had a slightly similar situation thru the internet, some kind of scam he believed in until he shared the info w/us here among the M & M players, and found out it was pure scam.....
I Empathize w/those people, because they are just not thinking......
A cautionary tale. Learn from the mistakes of others.
Orangeman
She was STUPID AS H#!!. She deserves everything she got..she could have saved herself if she would have asked her bank..for FREE!!!
A fool and his( her ) money are soon parted.
Those that do not learn from their mistakes are doomed to repeat them.
There are my 2 cliche's for the day.....
DD