The caller will tell you, “You’ve won $700,000 and a Mercedes. All you have to do is send” (a designated amount of money, such as) “$900, to pay the taxes and we’ll send you your prize”.
Another common scam is the caller will tell you: “We are sending you a check. All you have to do is cash the check, send me” X amount of dollars “and you get to keep the rest.” The caller will give you an address or an account to deposit the money in. The addresses or accounts are out of state, or out of the United States.
Any phone call that you receive claiming to be the bank, or a lending institution, needing your account numbers, or credit card numbers, to catch a bank employee committing a crime etc. are also scams. Banks do not do this. Never give out your account or credit card numbers to anyone you don’t know.
I can’t stress enough, to ignore, these types of calls, or just hang up. These callers are scam artists. If you had really won the lottery, or any other mega prize, you wouldn’t have to send money to receive your prize, or pay the taxes. Your prize would be delivered to you and you would probably have to sign documents stating you received the prize. The taxes that you may have to pay would be withheld from your winnings.
Unfortunately we have had citizens fall for these types of scams and come to the police wanting help getting their money back. The truth is there is nothing we can do. The scam artists are located outside of the USA in such countries as Jamaica and the UK, which are hot spots for this kind of activity. Please safeguard your moneys and back accounts.