Fraudulent activities with conmen contacting victims claiming they have won a prize and the use moneygram scam is becoming more and more common on the Internet. Previously took place though unsolicited mail or telephone calls from fraudsters, this method of contact still continues, the Internet has given scam artists another option of communication.
It occurs when a fraudster contacts the potential victim though for example email to inform a prize has been won, either a lottery or sweepstakes. Most of the time involving a monetary prize but the possibility of tangible goods with sweepstakes. These types of fraudsters are not always the country of their victim, often places like Nigeria, Canada or the Netherlands. The initial communication will inform the victim that a prize has been won. After follow up communication the lucky winner is asked to send money through moneygram so they organizers of competition can make arrangement for the lottery or sweepstakes winner to receive their prize, will often claim taxes or other administration fees will need to be before the prize can be sent. You've just won a million dollars, does that not make you feel great? What are you going to do with your prize? Perhaps a vacation to a far flung land for as long as you want. Dream on! You are being scammed and deceived by fraudsters using the moneygram scam.
They require people to wire money through moneygram so that the necessary paperwork can be completed. With moneygram, a favoured means of monetary activity with fraudsters, it is very easy to send and receive cash.
Often scammers try pretend to be from a well known or a fictitious body like for e.g. the reputable soft drinks company 'Pepsi' or a government organization that simply does not exist, one that they have made up like 'The National Organisation for Consumer Welfare and Leisure' to give some semblance of credibility.
Sweepstakes are competitions organised by recognised bodies and businesses enabling people to win a prize, there to genuinely administer a competition, not to carry out a moneygam scam. The winner does not have to enter the competition to win a prize thus enabling scammers and conmen to pounce on innocent members of the public. With lottery, more tricky for fraudsters since people have to enter to win the lottery and people may well question how they have won a prize without without buying a ticket.
When making contact the scammer will often provide a phone number for the potential victim to make contact. When communication is made, he will try to persuade the victim to send money to complete the process so that the victim can receive the prize. As with all moneygram scams, the victim has to wire money to the scammer, only for the fraudster to walk away with the funds, with the victim not won anything other then suffer a financial loss. With sweepstakes winners do not have to pay any money whatsoever, if any funds are requested, for its a scam.
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