Craven resident not taken in by lottery-check scam

Kerry Hancock has no patience with scam artists.

If they call his house in western Craven County, he hangs up. If they send him bogus checks in the mail, he usually tosses them in the trash.

But after receiving two suspicious checks totaling more than $9,000 recently, he decided to warn potential scam victims.

"You never know. Some little old lady might think she's going to make a thousand dollars and then send these people her life savings," he said.

He knew the checks with his name on them were a scam.

"Both letters said I had won a Canadian lottery, and I've never played a Canadian lottery," he said.

Each check was accompanied by a letter saying he had won a sweepstakes, a combined total of $700,000. The letters also said he would have to pay several thousand dollars in taxes before collecting his prizes.

He called a Pennsylvania bank listed on one of the checks.

"They had an account under that name, but it didn't have sufficient funds to cover this check," he said. "I'm the one who would have been paying."

State Attorney General Roy Cooper agrees, and issued a warning about sweepstakes and secret-shopper scams Wednesday.

"We are familiar with these check scams," said Cooper spokesman Noelle Talley. "It sounds like the gentleman in this case did not fall victim, which is very good to hear. We ask people to report the checks to us."

She said the Attorney General's Office had been receiving about 15 complaints each week.

"The promise of easy money can be tempting, especially during these tight times," Cooper said in a statement. "But instead of making you any money, these scammers will take your money."

Along with the lottery scam, another one involves a promise to give a person a well-paying job as a secret or mystery shopper.

People who respond are sent an authentic-looking check, asked to deposit it and then wire the money back as a way to evaluate the wire service company. A few days later, the check turns out to be a fake, and the victim has lost hundreds or thousands of dollars.

Anyone who spots a possible counterfeit check scam can call 1-877-5-NO-SCAM toll-free within North Carolina to report it to the Attorney General's Consumer Protection Division.

On the Web: www.ncdoj.com.