Detective Stacy Gann stated that the lottery scam involves people receiving letters in the mail claiming they have won over $100,000 in a lottery overseas. The letter states that these people have been randomly selected. The letter also states that the company has sent a check. The check is reportedly for the winner to pay the cost of handling that large sum of money. They are only asked to cash the check and then send a certain amount back to the company for the fees. The letter then claims within days they will have a check delivered to their door for over $100,000. This is a scam. The checks are fraudulent and if the person attempts to cash the checks they could be charged with passing a forged instrument.
Detective Gann also warns residents of an internet scam. In this case a person enters a chat room and may speak with another person, usually a female, for more than a week. The female claims that she is from Europe. After several days of communication, she then claims that she has several money orders that she needs to cash. She states that in her country they are going to charge her almost 30% to cash the checks. She asks the person she has been talking to if they would cash the checks for her. She also then states that he can keep a certain amount of the money for doing her this service. She then e-mails the person an address in Nigeria for him to send her the remaining money.
Since last Friday, the Lafayette Police Department has investigated five cases of this nature. Detective Gann stated that if a person, who may not even know the checks are fraudulent, cashes these checks he or she can be charged with attempting to pass a forged instrument.
Detective Gann stated that if anyone receives any information of this nature to contact the LPD and they will look at the information you receive. Detective Gann said, "Basically, a person needs to use good judgment. If it looks too good to be true, then it is."
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