KENNEWICK -- The letter also included a check for 3,000 dollars, which was supposed to be the first of many payments for the lottery winnings. But there were several red flags.
"There was a letter saying I had the chance to win a huge amount of money and this check was to assist me in my financial part of it. That's definitely a scam letter," Kennewick resident Ethel Easter said.
That letter asked Easter to cash the check and send the money back to a business address.
"Everytime you're asked to give your money, you better figure it's a scam," Easter said.
The check looked realistic to Easter ... and she says other people could easily fall for it.
"It looked like I could've signed it and cashed it then I would've been in trouble," Easter said.
But there were several things wrong with the check no authorization signature, conflicting addresses and no return address.
"It just said, 'this is a gimmick," it's not real, it just said that in the way it was worded and everything," Easter said.
Kennewick police got ahold of easter's letter. They receive about two calls a day about scams like this. Fortunately, there hasn't been anyone in Kennewick who's been tricked by it.
"People get carried away on emotions and stop thinking. So they cash the check and send the money and when it turns out to be bad two weeks later, there's no money anymore," Kennewick Police's Sgt. Brian Swartswalter said.
Most of the scam artists operate from foreign countries. So, police have a hard time getting to them.
Sgt. Swartswalter says if anyone wants to give you a lot of money in return for nothing, it's probably a scam.
"If you hear something that's too good to be true, it probably is and it's best to go to the shredder," Sgt. Swartswalter said.
Police say scam artists like to target the elderly because many of them are unfamiliar with the internet or don't watch the news, so they never hear about these scams. Kennewick police say there's another scam that's becoming popular. Someone will respond to a car sales ad and send more money than the seller asked for. The extra money is supposed to given to the person who picks the car up. So the seller deposits the check, withdraws the money, hands over the car and cash to the supposed buyer ... and finds out the check never clears.
