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6/2/2010

Lexington, KY - Your Better Business Bureau has often warned you about various lottery and sweepstakes scams. There have been several coming out of Australia lately. They may look legitimate, but they most definitely are not.

Many of the ones we have seen want a fee of $10 in order to receive your prize money…sometimes millions of dollars! However, it's against federal law to require you to pay for a prize.

One in particular we have seen might throw you…it's from UBI Payment Services in Australia. It's not asking for any money, like we have warned you about…but if you look at it more closely, it asks you to solve a very simple puzzle.

In very faint print that you can barely see on the back of the mailing, it talks about tie breakers...and that the winner will have to send a copy of their passport or other ID…that could open you up to ID theft!

There are reports at other BBBs that consumers returned this mailing and miraculously "won" the sweepstakes, and were sent the $5-thousand dollar check as promised…but they were instructed to cash it and wire $3500 of it back to cover "fees" for their bigger prize. The checks later turned out to be fake, leaving the victim to pay back the bank. And with the crooks in Australia, there is little hope of catching them.

The United States Postal Inspection Service warns against playing any foreign lottery or sweepstakes.

If you get one of these offers from "the land down under," don't fall for it.

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Be a "Don’t Fall for It!" informant! If you have something to share you believe may be a fraudulent offer or scam, please let the BBB know! Call us at (859) 259-1008 or toll-free, 1-800-866-6668, or email us at info@lexbbb.com.