BY BRENDA DORSEY, Staff Writer
Wetzel County residents have recently lost thousands of dollars due to mail lottery scams. According to Wetzel Sheriff’s Department Chief Deputy Rob Haught and New Martinsville Police Detective Donnie Harris, in the past week several Wetzel County residents have been contacted by either a Canadian company or a New England company claiming the Wetzel person has won money in a contest he never entered. Afraid of losing the prize money, recipients followed the letter’s instructions and unfortunately had money stolen from their personal funds. To make matters worse, if money is lost in a mail scam because of funds deposited into the scam account, the “winner” is responsible for the check; the bank is not held responsible in a scam—the recipient is.
In these most recent money scams, one person was contacted by e-mail and another was contacted through the regular postal service mail. The instructions in both communications were similar. The “winner” is advised he or she has won through a random lottery search an amount of money, in one case hundreds of thousands, in another thousands. The person is told in order to claim the prize money, that a certain amount of dollars—as much as $3,000 —must be deposited in a bank account to cover the taxes on the winnings which must be paid before the larger prize amount can be accessed. One scam letter begins, “Atlantic Lottery Corporation, Award Claim Final Notification.” A fake telephone number is given to the winner to verify the award, but there is no one available at the number, or the caller only hears a recorded message.
The hook in the letters is the “specific time period” in which the prize must be claimed, or the so-called award is forfeited.
Chief Deputy Haught says that people want to believe they have won something and for this reason may be more easily drawn into the situation. However, people need to be extremely cautious. Haught advises if you are told you have won a prize in a contest you never entered, the only number you should call is a law enforcement official, such as the county sheriff at 455-2430 or the New Martinsville Police at 455-9100. There is no harm in waiting to verify a prize is real, if the company is legitimate. Call the police, Haught advises, if you have received any prize notifications—don’t find out the hard way that the prize is not real.
Detective Harris stated, “If you didn’t enter a contest, then you probably didn’t win anything.” So, if someone tells you have won money in a contest you never entered, and it seems too good to be true, it probably is.