This Foreign Lottery Scam Makes Victim a Violator
Helen couldn’t believe her good fortune.
A few days before Valentine’s Day, the Southern California retiree got a call saying she had won $2 million in a Canadian lottery. The 78-year-old Angeleno was living on Social Security and a small savings account, so she knew she could use the cash. But there was one problem: She had to send $75,000 to get her cash through customs. Helen didn’t have enough money to comply.
Still, the caller--purportedly a Canadian lottery official--said he’d secure a bank loan for the portion Helen couldn’t afford. All she had to do was send a cashier’s check for $30,000--the total amount in her savings--and promise to pay back the remaining $45,000 in “customs’ duties” when she got her prize.
Helen knew it sounded fishy. For one thing, she didn’t remember entering a Canadian lottery. But the caller was so convincing and $2 million would mean so much. She got a cashier’s check and sent it by three-day priority mail.
She waited to hear from the lottery official, who had promised to call the next day. The call didn’t come. So, 24 hours after she sent her life savings to a mail drop in Canada, she contacted the Better Business Bureau in Los Angeles.
Helen found out that it is illegal for Canadian firms to sell lottery tickets to foreigners. And, under U.S. law, it is illegal for U.S. citizens to buy tickets in foreign lotteries. Title 18 of U.S. Code Section 1302 makes it illegal to mail solicitations, circulars or payments for tickets in foreign lotteries through the U.S. mail. If you want to participate in a non-U.S. lottery, the only way to legally do so is to go to that country and buy a ticket, according to the U.S. Postal Inspector’s office.
That’s part of what makes it a great scam. By participating, the consumer is breaking the law, just like the con artist. The consumer never gets any documentation showing they’ve purchased a real ticket. The tickets are often sold with high-pressure tactics.
Still, Helen was lucky.
“This case was a little unique,” says Edward Johnson, vice president of the Better Business Bureau in Los Angeles. “Normally, by the time people come to us, they’ve lost their money. With this woman, we had about 24 hours to figure out how to get it back.”
Johnson immediately called Helen’s bank, trying to stop payment on the cashier’s check. It can’t be done.
So, BBB representatives began trying to track the package, hoping to intercept it before it was too late. Literally minutes before Helen’s check was to be delivered, a Canadian task force called Phonebusters found her package and stopped it from going to the crooks.
If you are solicited in the United States to buy foreign lottery tickets, call or write to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service at 225 N. Humphreys Blvd., Memphis, TN 38161-0001, Attention: Foreign Fraud Desk. You can also call: (800) 372-8347 ([800]-FRAUDIS).
If you are solicited by a Canadian firm, Canadian officials can also be contacted at: Complaint Unit--Bureau of Competition Policy, 50 Victoria St., Hull, Quebec K1A 0C9, Attention: Foreign Lotteries.
Or you can reach Phonebusters, a joint project of the Canadian Better Business Bureau and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, at (705) 495-8501.
The Better Business Bureau in Los Angeles can be reached at (213) 251-9696. Local Better Business Bureau offices are also located in major cities throughout the country.
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Consumer Checklist is a weekly feature that covers a range of pocketbook issues of interest to Californians. To contribute information about new legislation, products, services or surveys, write to Kathy M. Kristof, Business Section, Los Angeles Times, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles, CA 90053; or e-mail kathy.kristof@latimes.com
