I checked my email this morning and it looked like the standard assortment. A couple dozen emails telling me how I can, get prescription meds without a prescription, a few telling me how I can enhance my manhood, get bigger boobs, have better sex, or refinance my house at 1% interest. Eddies wife finally had the baby (a 7 lb. baby boy). And, what’s this…. I have won 25 million dollars in the Ethiopian lottery!!!

Funny, I don’t remember buying any tickets for a lottery in Ethiopia. In fact I did not even know Ethiopia had a lottery. But it must be true because here was an email from the Comptroller of Finances for the Ethiopian National Lottery. All I had to do was reply with my name, address, and how I wanted my winnings delivered.
This is just one of the ways a lotto con can start.

Lesson One - Email Cons:
The most common lottery con starts by your receiving an email that you have won a large amount of money in a, usually foreign, lottery. You are normally instructed that you should reply to the email with your name, address and how you would like your winnings to be delivered. Most often, you are given two choices; the money can be transferred directly into your bank account or it can be delivered by courier.
If you reply that you want the money wired to your bank account, you will be requested to send them your banks name, your account number, etc. Congratulations, you have now supplied them with enough information to draft all the money out of your account.
If you reply you want the money delivered by a courier, you will get an email back informing you that you need to send the courier delivery service a ‘courier fee’, usually between $300 and a $1000 dollars.
When you get an email telling you that you have won a lottery, ask yourself a few simple questions.
1. How can I win a lottery I did not enter?
FACT: You cannot win a lottery that you do not enter. Lotteries do not pull participants out of the phone book, off email list, or out of thin air.
2. Why is a rich lottery requesting me to reply to a HotMail.Com or a Yahoo.Com email account?
FACT: Free email accounts are a favorite with con artist because it is next to impossible to trace the identity of the owner.
Also be aware that, with $50.00 and a few hours work, a con artist can set up an official looking web site for both the lottery and a courier company.
3. If I won all this money, why are they asking me for money? Can’t they just deduct it from my winnings?
FACT: Legitimate lotteries do not ask that you pay any money ‘upfront’. All fees and taxes assonated with a lottery win are deducted from the winnings.
4. How smart am I if I send total strangers financial information about myself?
FACT: It takes surprising little information for a good con artist to clear out your bank account or credit card.

Lesson 2 - Direct Mailings:
You open an interesting piece of postal mail from the Timbuktu Lottery Commission. In it is a letter saying that you have won millions of dollars in a lottery you never entered. What’s more, the letter contains a bank draft for $3,000.00…. now they have my attention.
A fast read of the letter will inform you that the $3,000.00 bank draft is an advance on your winnings but in order to claim the entire jackpot you have to pay taxes/fees of $2,300.00.
You are instructed to deposit the $3000.00 draft into your account and then send the lottery commission $2300.00 to cover the taxes. Not a problem, you are still $700.00 up… until the $3000.00 draft they sent you is bounced by your bank (and deducted from your balance) because the draft is a forgery.
Again, you need to ask yourself a few questions.
1. How can I win a lottery I did not enter?
FACT: You cannot win a lottery that you do not enter. Lotteries do not pull participants out of the phone book, off email list, or out of thin air.
2. Why do they not simply pulling the taxes/fees from my winnings instead of sending money back and forth?
FACT: Legitimate lotteries do not ask that you pay any money ‘upfront’. Any fees or taxes assonated with lottery win are deducted from the jackpot.
3. Why must I send them money immediately, instead of waiting for their draft to clear?
FACT: Legitimate lotteries allow you a minimum of 90 days to claim your prize. Some Lotteries allow up to a year.

Lesson 3 - In Your Face Scams:
You have just finished shopping at the mall or grocery store when a stranger (con artist #1), usually a Hispanic woman, approaches you. She/he has a problem and could you please help? Being a Good Samaritan you are will to help if you can.
The problem, con artist #1 explains, is that he/she has purchased a winning lottery ticket but cannot cash it because he/she is an illegal alien and has no papers.
A third person (con artist #2) approaches to see if he can be of aid. After hearing the story con artist #2 suggest that if you cash the ticket, you and con artist # 1 could split the winnings.
Con artist # 1 expresses fear that if he/she gives you the ticket, you might keep it all.
Con artist # 2 says he knows an attorney that will draw up a contract but it will cost money and could you (the victim) pay to have the contact drawn up.
The first stop is at the bank where you withdraw the money, anywhere from a thousand dollars to what ever they can talk you into.
The next stop is to an office building where you are ask to wait in the car while the con artist, and your money, disappear into the building to met the attorney.
I can guarantee you that you will never see them again.
There are many variations of what is known as the “Latin Lotto Scam” but they all have three common elements.
1. A person who has a winning lottery ticket
2. The inability of the person to cash the ticket for some reason.
3. You turning over your hard earned savings in the belief you are going to share in the Jackpot.

In Closing:
Always remember three golden rules.
1. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
2. Investigate before you invest.
3. There is a sucker born every minute, don’t be one of them.


Courtesy of LottoBuster.Com