Lotto scams hit SW Fla., nation

Tuesday, June 13, 2006 posted 11:06 AM EDT

Detectives are asking people not get duped into lottery scams taking place in Southwest Florida and across the nation.

During the past two weeks, two people in Collier County have been fleeced out of $4,000 each in the scams.

According to sheriff's reports:

The bogus lotteries include Lotto XChange, Money Camp International and Lotto Services.

People are lured into the scams through letters they receive in the mail telling them that they have won large amounts of money.

Attached to the letters are checks for several thousand dollars.

The letters say the checks are to be used for paying insurance and processing fees needed to claim the winnings.

The victims are asked to deposit the checks into their bank accounts and then wire a large portions of the amounts to Canada or some other country.

Several days later, the victims are notified by their banks that the checks were counterfeit and the total amounts of the checks are being charged to their accounts.

Economic crimes detectives are warning people to be cautious when receiving letters about large lottery winnings. If the lottery is legal, the person will not be asked to pay any money to receive winnings.

Also, playing a foreign lottery through the mail or by telephone is a violation of federal law.

Anyone with information about the lottery scams is asked to call Collier County's Economic Crimes Unit at 774-8034 or the sheriff's office at 793-9300.

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