Letter sent to steal money from receivors
Sedona AZ (February 12, 2013) – Yesterday, the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office Crime Prevention Specialist was contacted by a neighborhood watch member regarding telephone fraud. She had just received a phone call from someone who announced she had won a 2.5 million dollar lottery prize. The suspect requested, and was allowed to send her documents by email containing instructions on claiming the prize. The suspect promised a follow-up phone call soon after to complete the arrangements.
The victim quickly received an email with two letters attached, one with an IRS letterhead and the other purportedly from Bank of America. In the correspondence, the “winner” was required to pay an insurance fee of $559.00 plus a processing fee of $250.00 before she could access the 2.5 million dollars in winnings.
The victim recalled recent crime prevention and media notices about this scam and soon realized she was now a target. When the suspect called back, she took specific notice of his accent and got him to admit he was based in Jamaica. When he asked her if she was ready to wire the required fees, she replied, “My crime prevention officer told me this lottery notice is a fraud and I want nothing to do with you.” After hanging up on the suspect, she contacted the YCSO Crime Prevention Specialist to report the incident and forwarded the associated documents at his request.
The victim was complimented on her recall of this fraud scenario and her use of this knowledge to avoid becoming another statistic. Remember, in any legitimate sweepstakes winning, you are NEVER required to pay ANY upfront costs. Additionally, if you review the documents closely, they contain numerous grammar and spelling errors and are obviously fraudulent. With the aid of computers, it is easy to download legitimate business graphics to dress up a document in an attempt to make it appear authentic.
Bank of America fake check looks real
Most of these scams target seniors and rely on their trust not to verify the information and assume the credibility of the documents. It has been common to find many suspects in these scams are based in Jamaica. Please share information about this scam with those in your family or care that could be targeted by US mail, phone, or email.
Be wise to the disguise.
Citizens can contact the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office with information or questions at 928-771-3260 or the YCSO website www.ycsoaz.gov.
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As of 10:30 a.m. Feb 19, 2013 an EMAIL SCAM that was supposed to be from Dunn & Bradstreet regarding a complaint filed against my (your) company has hit the Yavapai County area. It has a zip file attached to it with instructions to open it and take care of the complaint.
DO NOT open it.
A call was placed to Dunn & Bradstreet and they indicated they don’t even accept complaints against companies and that this was a new scam.
They suggested that you destroy the email and don’t open the attachment. They have been handling numerous calls on this.
The person who called me did not have an accent except he sounded & pronounced English words better than a lot of my neighbors or other customers in local stores.