Check, Sweepstakes and Work at Home Scams Still Active in Douglas County

Douglas County District Attorney Charles Branson warned residents to continue to be on guard of check, sweepstakes and work at home scams. 

Today the DA’s Office was notified that a resident was scammed out of a large sum of money.  In this particular case, the resident was instructed to cash a large check she received in the mail.  The check was for thousands of dollars.  She was then instructed to keep a small amount of money from the check for herself, but she was to obtain money orders from her bank for the balance.  The victim did as she was instructed and she mailed the money orders to the ‘company’ for processing, shipping and handling fees.  She believed by doing this, that she would be able to collect a very large sweepstakes prize.  Unfortunately, it was a scam, the victim lost several thousand dollars and there was no sweepstakes winning. 

The DA cautioned residents on depositing and even more importantly, from spending the funds from cashier’s checks and money orders from questionable sources.  The unfortunate reality is too many victims have had to reimburse their banks thousands of dollars that they believed they had won or earned from these scamming companies.  Never mail, wire or spend money in response to these types of requests.  DA Branson advised, “You are not going to lose out on a legitimate prize, lottery or sweepstakes by taking the time to verify the offer is real.  You will only protect yourself from being scammed.”  DA Branson also said, “The adage may be old, but in reference to consumer issues, we can never repeat it enough - if it sounds too good to be true, it is.”

If you have been a victim of one of these companies, please contact my Consumer Protection Division.  They can be reached at 785-330-2849. We are always ready to serve the residents of Lawrence and Douglas County.

 

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