A scam that hits the jackpot for stupidity offers valuable lessons

These guys have to be some of the dumbest scammers ever. But their ploy is so brazen -- and so potentially attractive in these tough economic times -- you could just see it succeeding.

That is, if they ever get their story straight.

Beverly Hills resident Joy Shefter told me she had received a call the other day from a man identifying himself as a Bank of America employee. He said he had a cashier’s check for Shefter’s husband, Milt, from Publishers Clearing House. The check was for $2.5 million.

How did Shefter want the money delivered?

“I was surprised,” she told me. “This sounded great. But it also sounded suspicious.”

Her concerns only grew when the purported BofA employee, who said his name was Mark Blake, said he’d need information from her husband to verify his identity. He left a number with a New York area code.

“It couldn’t have been more than four minutes later that I got another call,” Shefter said. “This time it was a man who said he worked for Wachovia bank, and that he also had a check from Publishers Clearing House for $2.5 million.”

She replied that she’d just received a similar call from BofA. The man quickly hung up.

Like I say, not the sharpest con artists you’re ever going to meet. But, as you’ll see, they get points for persistence.

Bank of America -- the real one -- was royally miffed to learn that it’s being so prominently featured in a scam.

“These calls were not from or authorized by Bank of America,” said Colleen Haggerty, a bank spokeswoman. “We will be investigating the matter.”

Wells Fargo & Co., which acquired Wachovia last year, was similarly displeased.

“Unfortunately, phony lottery or sweepstakes scams are common,” said Jennifer Langan, a bank spokeswoman.

Shefter contacted me after receiving the two calls. She related how she could hear in the background other voices telling other people about their multimillion-dollar winnings.

“Ocean’s Eleven” this wasn’t.

Shefter asked what she should do if Blake called back. I said she and her husband should push to get the $2.5-million check, if it really existed.

The next day, Blake left a message with the Shefters asking them to call. This time, he gave a number with a Jamaica area code.

Jamaica. Must be a BofA branch office.

When Milt Shefter called Blake, he was told that no further information was needed. Blake said he was ready to dispatch the check.

Now comes the fun part. Blake told Shefter that the International Release Service -- get it, “IRS”? -- requires payment of taxes in advance for such large winnings and requires the services of a “merchant banker.”

Luckily, Blake said he could provide just such a banker, a woman named Tiffany Davis (nice touch).

“He told me I had to wire her $850 through Western Union, and then I’d receive my check,” Shefter said. “It seemed like a good deal.”

Indeed, that’s a tax rate of less than 1%. The IRS must be getting soft.

But Shefter told Blake he was still wary of the deal. So Blake said he’d fax a copy of the check, which would allow Shefter to see that everything was legit.

The fax arrived shortly afterward. The check looked real enough. It said “Publishers Clearing House International Sweepstakes” across the top, and it was written to Shefter in the amount of $2.5 million.

Just one small thing: The check was seemingly drawn on a Wachovia bank account, not BofA.

Shefter called Blake. He said he thought Blake worked for BofA.

Blake replied that Publishers Clearing House has accounts at both banks. There.

The Shefters and I have been chuckling about this for days. As of Tuesday, Blake had called back several times asking when the money would be wired, and the Shefters have replied each time that they need to receive the check first.

Impasse.

“There are some very brilliant scammers out there,” Milt Shefter told me. “These aren’t them. On a scale from 1 to 10, I’d give them a 1.”

But he said you had to admire the thoroughness of the scam and the lengths to which the scammers were willing to go to get their hands on people’s money.

“We kept catching them in lies, but they just kept going,” Shefter said. “We can laugh about it, but you just know that in this economy, people will fall for this.”

The fact that advanced-fee and bogus-check scams persist demonstrates their alarmingly high success rate.

The Federal Trade Commission says scams involving sweepstakes and counterfeit checks are among the most commonly reported to the agency.

“Throw away any offer that asks you to pay for a prize or a gift,” the FTC advises. “If it’s free or a gift, you shouldn’t have to pay for it. Free is free.”

Chris Irving, a spokesman for Publishers Clearing House, said the company’s sweepstakes make it a perennial scam component.

“It’s a huge frustration for us,” he said. “These things do nothing but harm us and harm our name.”

Like the FTC, Irving said that if strings are attached to collecting a prize, chances are it’s a scam. Walk away. Don’t look back.

Or do what the Shefters did and string the scammers along for as long as you can. Two can play at that game, after all.

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David Lazarus’ column runs Wednesdays and Sundays. Send your tips or feedback to david.lazarus@latimes.com.