We all dream of winning a lottery and and living in the lap of luxury, in swoops in the scam artists! Many of these scams play off our dreams, and promises us an insiders chance of winning these fictitious lotteries, for a price. First and foremost lets get this straight, there is no way of improving your chances of winning a lottery, you have the same odds of winning as anyone else and those odds are usually astronomical. We are emotional creatures and that’s what these scammers live off of. some of these scams will offer you a better chance of winning a lottery or say that you have already won in some magical way, then they will need money up front from you to process your payment or need your bank account number to set up an account with the lottery. Many of these scams contact you through your email account (which can easily be acquired no matter how careful you are), phone number, or postal mail. If you have already been scammed you should contact your local law enforcement, your financial institute, and the US Federal Trade commission (FTC). Here are some tips to help you recognize lottery scams and an example letter.

1. You have been contacted even though you have never entered a lottery.
2. NEVER GIVE MONEY UP FRONT OR ANY OF YOUR FINANCIAL INFORMATION.
3. Research the lottery you have been contacted about and make sure they have a physical address and a land phone line(not a cell phone).
4. Don’t let your emotions overrule your common sense.
5. Never trust any email, phone call or postal mail from anyone you don’t know.

Sample letter:

MEGA LOTTERY INTERNATIONAL website: www.megalottery.com

INTERNATIONAL PROMOTION/PRIZE AWARD DEPT.

REF Number : MLI/231-ILGI0431/04
BATCH Number : EAPA/15/096/PTNL
TICKET Number : 20511465897-6291
SERIAL Number : 472-971103
LUCKY Number : 8-66-97-22-71-64

RE : WINNING FINAL NOTIFICATION

Sir, Madam

We are pleased to inform you of the result of the Lottery Winners International programs held on the 29th of April 2004 Your E-mail address attached to Ticket number 20511465897-6291 with Serial number 472-971103 drew lucky numbers 8-66-97-22-71-64 which consequently won in the 2nd category, you have therefore been approved for a lump sum payout of US$ 1,500,000.00 (One Million ,Five hundred Thousand United States Dollars).This is from a total cash prize of USD$15,000,000.00 Million shared among Ten International Lucky Winners in the Category A ( Plus )+ . CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Be informed that your documents have to pass our authority to obtain a clearance, which shall be attached to your Document in readiness of the subsequent onward transfer into your nominated bank account with 24 hours of completion of the authentication. Due to mix up of some numbers and names, we ask that you keep your winning information very confidential until your claims have been processed as the Beneficiary Certificate Ownership Winning Notification, Stamp duties and re-activation of Account of your prize /money remitted in readiness of the subsequent onward transfer into your nominated Bank Account is completed

This is in conformity with the latest transfer regulations signed by the Organization / Netherlands Government since this is part of our Security protocol measures to avoid double claiming and unwarranted abuse of this program by some participants. All participants were selected through a computer ballot system drawn from over 100,000,000 Companies and 200,000,000 individual email addresses and names from all over the world, through the aid of our insurance Company www.ballonetsl.hq3.com

This promotional program takes place annually. We hope you will take part in our next year USD$45 Million International lottery. To file for your claim, please contact our /your fiducial agent MRS CATHERINE BLAKE the DOLLAR ACCREDITED PAYMENT AGENT
TEL: +31-650-470-334
FAX: +31-650-470-334
Email : cathyblake@winning.com

NOTE: That all winnings must be claimed not later than 30th of MAY 2004. After this date all unclaimed funds will be included in the next stake. Anybody under the age of 18 is automatically disqualified.

Finally, we call on you to make sure that you note every letter clearly as stated for we will not be held responsible should there be any complications in this transaction due to laxity on your part. So you are to expedite action in claiming of your funds, for delays will compel us to disperse your funds, in other words, we shall divert your funds as stated above. In order to avoid unnecessary delays and mistakes, Kindly remember to quote your reference number and batch numbers in all correspondence.

Furthermore, should there be any change of address do inform our agent as soon as possible. Congratulations once more from our members of staff and thank you for being part of our promotional program.

Yours truly
Mr Harry Herman
Lottery Coordinator

Have you ever received an email boasting of great prices from an online pharmacy? Buyer beware! Many times these pharmacies operate outside of the U.S. and can take advantage of the lack of consumer protection laws. Many times these pharmacies will offer prescription drugs without a prescription, or offer to get you a prescription from one of there own doctors. The problem occurs when the drug you have received will be diluted, poor quality, medications that have been tainted, or are different drug all together. Some of these websites will start ripping you off by asking for a small membership fee, and some very personal secure information. With the prices for prescription drugs skyrocketing it is not a surprise that we would all look for better prices, but lets not forget that some deals are to good to be true! Here is a list of things to look for when using an online Pharmacy:

1. Make sure there is a physical address and phone number for the Pharmacy.
2. They boast of “No doctors prescription needed”,” or we will obtain one for you”.
3. Prices are unbelievable low.
4. Uses spam emailing.
5. Always check the credit card processing page has a https in front of the page address (the S stands for Secure and it must contain the S).

If you ever received a letter from the FBI on official looking letter head with the director of the FBI on it wouldn’t you think it was real. Maybe not but scam artists rely on the odds. If they mail out a thousand letters they may get back two responses and thats all they need. On the FBI’s scams and warnings page they give examples of how they are being used to target victims. Some of them involve claims of lottery winnings or of large inheritance (they will ask you pay the taxes and fees upfront). They also use letters and emails to extort money from the recipient claiming to be official FBI business. Feel free to contact the FBI by submitting an online inquiry, or at their contact page. The site also has scam alerts and a list of things to watch out for.

Telemarketing Cheat Sheat

Ask yourself these questions

· Is this a solicitation? Yes___ No___

· Do I know this person? Yes___ No___

· Are they trying to get information? Yes___ No___

· Are they rushing me? Yes___ No___

· Are they offering Freebies? Yes___ No___

· Is this a now or never offer? Yes___ No___

· Is there a big reward with no risk? Yes___ No___

· Are they from outside the US? Yes___ No___

· Refuse to send you information? Yes___ No___

Questions to ask the telemarketer

· Who do you work for?

· Can you send me information?

· What licenses and Insurance do you have?

· What are the risks?

· What’s your Better Business Bureau number?

· Can my family be involved?

Red flag phrases:

You are an instant winner, you must act now, we need to reset your passwords, I can clean up your credit problems, you can make lots of money working from home, you have unclaimed money, Your son or daughter wanted me to call, you requested information, you have a lien on your house, you owe back taxes, can you support our charity

Click here for a printable version.

I ran across an article on msn about how a teenager was able to scam thousands and thousands of dollars from trusting Ebay members. There is no real trick to it just sell a product boasting of high quality or top of the line features, and delivering a product worth fractions of the selling price. In this particular article the boy was selling laptops he purchased in bulk that were obsolete, then made some small changes to them and sold them as high end computers. Sometimes even with pictures of real top of the line computers. This type of scam is also done on many legitimate looking websites. I had a friend who was about to Moneygram money to a company in China, when he looked up the web address using google. Close call because what he found is that this scam had been done to other consumers. When spending lots of money to buy a product that you have never seen you need to do a little research, and until you have proof that it is a legitimate transaction don’t exchange money. You can also check out or page with known scam websites. I received a message saying that I had posted the name of a website, and that it was in error. I asked the sender to send me proof and that I would also do more research on the site. I never heard from him again and I found more sites he authored that had ripped consumers off.

Find a certain time of the month to check all your statements. You may be surprised to find things that were purposely charged to your accounts and some that may have accidentally been charged to your accounts. Remember that your medical bills are subject to fraud and accidental over charges. Many people do not question these accounts and not only do they affect your pocket but can increase insurance premiums for everyone. Unfortunately some of our medical professions are subject to making mistakes just like the rest of us. If you monitor your accounts every month you will find mistakes from time to time, and if gone uncorrected can become reoccurring fees out of your pockets. Another good reason to check your accounts is to see where you are spending money and can be a big help in budgeting.

Well I Chris Cator the author of this blog has been ripped off big time. You would think that I would be good at sniffing out potential frauds but I got fooled. I use a company called Uship for deliveries and I accepted a bid from a company called ICON Worldwide (funny how the name is “ICON”). The shipment was to be delivered in 3 to 5 days and what a surprise it never showed up. I got excuse after excuse, and was told it will be there next week, and then next week, and then next week. Well $1800 dollars later I am out the shipping money and the $4500 dollars of products. I guess I figured that Uship screens the shippers, but I should have done my research. It is my money and I am the only one who can really protect it. I have disputed the charge with my credit card company but even if I get the $1800 back I am still out my products (for my website Indiasessentials.com). What can be done; nothing really. I submitted a complaint with Uship and maybe they will get rid of them as a member, but I am sure they will be off to a new scam. I guess it is easy for an outsider to detect a scam than someone who has a financial interest in the transaction. Well we will just keep trying.

Ponzi Scheme is false returns on an investment in order to get the confidence of an investor. A scam artist may pay money out of their own pockets in order to convince an investor to give them more access to their portfolio. This particular scam relies on your natural desire to make easy money. This particular scam is named after Charles Ponzi who all though was not the first, was possibly the worst. At the beginning of the century he swindled around $500,000 from investors, and was eventually caught and spent three and a half years in prison. The scam has many variations and may look very different, here is some things to look for:

• Any promise of a return higher than 0.1% return per day.
• A request for a much higher investment after an initial successful campaign.
• You have never heard of the investment company

The bottom line with investing and letting anyone have access to your portfolio is do your research. Scam artists are very clever and charming and can fool even savvy investors.

The way these get rich quick scams work is by getting you to give them your money. Basically you buy their program and they will teach you how to rip other people off. Its kind of like the add in the paper that says send me 5 dollars and I will send you the secret to making a million dollars. The secret is to put a add in the paper saying send me 5 dollars and I will send you the secret to making a million dollars. Sadly the target market for get rich schemes and pyramid schemes are the poor, the elderly, or people who are already in debt. And if you want to make money on a pyramid scheme you should start one yourself, otherwise you are just making money for other people. These are examples of common schemes:

1. Buy real estate for pennies on the dollar.
2. Wealth building seminars.
3. Risk free stock market schemes.
4. Muli-level marketing (pyramid scheme).
5. Secret ways to make money that no one knows about.
6. Psychic tips or betting tips.

Here are examples of phrases to run from:

1. Get in at the top.
2. Send us money and we will help you make money.
3. Business opportunities “they”  don’t want you to know about.
4. I made $10,000 dollars in 30 days, you can to.
5. Make money from home.
6. Want to make millions working part time?
7. If I can do it so can you.
8. You don’t need any education.

Remember the scam protectors golden rule; if it sounds to good to be true then it probably is.