FBI warns of Mega Millions lottery fraud

Oct 25, 2016, 1:16 pm (15 comments)

Scam Alert

The FBI's Atlanta office is warning of a scam involving the Mega Millions Lottery that uses the agency's name, as well as the name of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).

People who are contacted receive "very convincing" fake letters that name the above agencies, and the recipients are told that they are lottery winners, FBI spokesman Stephen Emmett said. The advance-fee part of the scam begins by requiring the so-called winner to transfer, by wire, thousands of dollars to the "lottery official" to secure the winnings.

The documentation sent to the victim includes memorandum/stationary from the FBI and FDIC that serve as letters of authentication.

In a recent scam targeting a southern Georgia resident, a photo purporting to show three FBI agents was sent as further proof of its legitimacy.

The FBI urges the public to remain vigilant to this scam and others like it that require advance fees via wire transfer or other means that make halting or even tracing a transaction almost impossible. In addition, the FBI nor FDIC provide "authentication" in such matters.

Anyone receiving such scam notifications are requested to file a report with the FBI at www.IC3.gov.

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Lottery Post Staff

Comments

music*'s avatarmusic*

 Thankyou, goes to the FBI field office in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. 

 Those three young men with Official looking badges on look like they could be college graduates. They do not understand how powerful and efficient the FBI is when searching for someone. I wonder what kind of charges they are looking at when caught? 

 I guess that the usual caveat applies here. If you did not buy a ticket then you cannot win. You do not have to pay to collect on a winning ticket. 

 Most Federal agencies try to help you.

RJOh's avatarRJOh

Mr. Ozi Podulski sounds Russian to me.  Are they trying to interfere with our lotteries too?  Wink

rcbbuckeye's avatarrcbbuckeye

Quote: Originally posted by RJOh on Oct 25, 2016

Mr. Ozi Podulski sounds Russian to me.  Are they trying to interfere with our lotteries too?  Wink

I used to work with a guy named Podulka. American born Navy vet Polish ancestry. Podulski is probably Polish.

Bleudog101

Quote: Originally posted by music* on Oct 25, 2016

 Thankyou, goes to the FBI field office in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. 

 Those three young men with Official looking badges on look like they could be college graduates. They do not understand how powerful and efficient the FBI is when searching for someone. I wonder what kind of charges they are looking at when caught? 

 I guess that the usual caveat applies here. If you did not buy a ticket then you cannot win. You do not have to pay to collect on a winning ticket. 

 Most Federal agencies try to help you.

Since those fake IRS callers got arrested in India a few weeks ago, the calls stopped.  Look how fake the first page is, didn't know Mega Millions was an International lottery which the page says it is.

 

would love to get one of these letters though, kind of revenge for those lottery scammers scamming my late Dad.

Stack47

Quote: Originally posted by RJOh on Oct 25, 2016

Mr. Ozi Podulski sounds Russian to me.  Are they trying to interfere with our lotteries too?  Wink

Bodda Bing!

Todd's avatarTodd

Yes, it is common for a scammer to copy an image off the Internet.  Well, not just common, it's universal.  So it's good that the FBI released the exact image the scammers are using (the one in this article).

Get paid's avatarGet paid

It behoves me people still fall for the scam.Wiring money to receive winnings should be a red flag.Tell the scammers to take their money from the winnings,they will refuse then u tell them,FU.

LottoAce's avatarLottoAce

people have been running scams very similiar to this one for many years now.
I know a few people that got caught up in it.
anyone who playes the lottery knows that you do not have to "secure the winnings"
and the lottery office will never contact you if you win.

MaximumMillions

Quote: Originally posted by RJOh on Oct 25, 2016

Mr. Ozi Podulski sounds Russian to me.  Are they trying to interfere with our lotteries too?  Wink

Their inspiration was clear to me.Green laugh

sully16's avatarsully16

Some people will fall for it, no ticket, no win.

Raven62's avatarRaven62

Quote: Originally posted by MaximumMillions on Oct 25, 2016

Their inspiration was clear to me.Green laugh

Play: 018 081 108 180 801 810

Bleudog101

Quote: Originally posted by Raven62 on Oct 26, 2016

Play: 018 081 108 180 801 810

I like 018; first three of my SSAN.

 

Years ago driving home from work was a car with 018 and three letters.  Had warm fuzzies, said I need to play.  I didn't and of course it came in 018!

msharkey2001's avatarmsharkey2001

Another sure fire way to tell this is bogus is by the dozens of grammatical errors in the letters they send.

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