Full Notification

The following is a message by Sgt. Dooley (Promote in your Social Media attached is a JPEG):

There is a new twist on an old scam. The scam initially appears similar to the lottery scams in which people are told they won a sweepstakes and will receive a check in the near future.

However, they need to provide some fees up front. In this new version, the person is told if they cannot come up with the money up front, they will be loaned the money up front and can repay the money once they receive their winnings.

The person is instructed to open a bank account, and soon thereafter begin to receive cashiers checks to deposit into the account. The person is instructed to forward the money to the lottery office, which is usually in another country.

In reality, the person is unknowingly acting as a third party to another scam in which the people sending them the cashiers checks are actually victims of a scam themselves.

The person receiving and sending the money are unknowingly acting as a middle man to a scam that could land them in jail. They are effectively assisting the offenders in getting the money moved to another country, which avoids suspicion from the previous victims.

Lastly, in some variations of the scam, the person is contacted by someone pretending to be an FBI agent. The agent explains to the person that the whole thing is a scam, but instructs the person to continue receiving and sending the money so the FBI can track the money and investigate the scam.

Call 911 if you get this.