Dear Ann Landers, Last August, I received a telephone call from a woman who said I had won a foreign lottery. She asked if I remembered entering, and I said, "No. I have bought so many lottery tickets that I can't recall all the different ones."
She then informed me there had been a drawing and my name had shown up in the list of 200 semi-finalists. A second drawing put my name as one of five finalists. She said the directors of the lottery decided that $450 million was too much to give to just one person, so it was going to be divided among all five of the finalists. Applying simple arithmetic, it comes out to $90 million for each of us. All that was required was for me to send $10, which I promptly did.
It has been three months, and so far, I have received absolutely nothing. I phoned the local Better Business Bureau and was told, "You will never get any money from them. Why should they pay you? They already have YOUR money."
Any comments? -- Rockford, Ill.
Hi! It's Margo here. I'd love to know what you think of the letters -- and the answers!
Also, any additional thoughts you might have. Thanks!
Reader Comment
Yep, a sucker is born every minute. In these scams, one is born every second. So sick of scammers like this. I've recently been a victim of identity theft and fraud and have no idea how it happened. I do not order anything online and am very careful about who knows my business. But, the scum bags are out there in force and know how to hack into everyone's personal information. May they all rot in hell ASAP! What they have done is terrifying and lasts on and on.
Reader Comment
Scammers depend on airheads and old people like this person. I can't believe there are some people who still fall for this BS in spite of the constant warnings we get about this. Calling the BBB would never have a satisfactory outcome. They pick up your loses, and I doubt very much if they honestly represent good businesses without getting their money, either. I am the person who wrote the above "Reader Comment" and want everyone to disregard the scumbags who snag people like this. Rot in hell creeps!
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