Racine Co. Sheriff warns of "Jamaican Lottery" scam

RACINE CO. (WITI) -- The Racine County Sheriff's Office is seen an increase in the number of complaints regarding a "Jamaican Lottery" scam.

Officials say the lottery scam and those that run it contact victims via the mail, phone and e-mail. Once contact is made, victims are told that they have won a large sum of money. Often times the suspects will indicate the money has been won in an international lottery and in order to receive the money a tax bill must first be satisfied. The suspects will then provide an address that is located out of state and instruct the victim to send large denominations of money to that address via cash or check. It is also common for the suspects to request victims to wire monies to out of state locations in order to maintain a certain level of anonymity.

Generally, if the suspects are able to obtain money from a particular victim they will continue to attempt contact with that victim in an effort to convince them to continue sending money. It is not uncommon for the suspects to pressure and even threaten victims in an effort to scare them into sending additional funds.

Once the scam has been completed it is often very difficult for law enforcement to trace the transactions back to the suspect or suspects. The addresses provided are often times vacant or non-existent and the identities are generally discovered to be stolen or falsified.

Citizens are encouraged to contact the Racine County Communications Center at 262-886-2300 if they believe they have been the victim of this type of scam.