Fraud Awareness Alert - Canadian Lottery Scam (2007-1)

The Office of Inspector General was alerted by the Cedar Falls- Field Benefit Administration office of a potential scam being perpetrated against Maine residents. The Attorney General Steven Rowe warned Maine residents that professional con artists are using the pretense of a Canadian lottery to bilk them out of thousands of dollars, with a new twist: they send cashier checks.

The basis of this scam consists of the con artist sending a letter with a bogus cashier's check to Maine residents portraying to be from a company named "IGA Management Systems" and announcing to the recipients they have won money from the "North American Prize Pool." However, before the recipients can collect their money they have to pay for "taxes and charges." The recipients are told to contact a "lottery claim agent" to finalize the payment process. The "lottery claim agent" ask the recipient to provide them with their identifying information, bank account, and routing information so the alleged "lottery winnings" can be deposited in the recipients banking accounting.

An identical scam is operating out of Vancouver, British Columbia using the name Coral Management Payment Systems. While we haven't seen this locally, it may be coming to your mailbox in the future. Remember: unless you've initiated the contact, you should NEVER give out your personal information (social security number, credit care number, banking account and routing number over the phone or through e-mail).

For more information about different scams, call Assistant Inspector General for Investigations Aaron R. Jordan at ext. 3744.

For information about reporting suspected fraud, waste or abuse to the Office of Inspector General, please call an OIG investigator: SA Tom Zigan at x 3104; SA Jay Hancock x 6991; SA Cornelia Green at x 3315 (TTY/TDD Users: 202-326-4115).

Please visit the following site for more information on the Canadian Lottery Scam: http://www.maine.gov/tools/whatsnew/index.php?topic=AGOffice_Press&id=48406&v=article