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Harry Gross: Contest scammers are the big winners

DEAR HARRY: Today, my wife received a "winner notification" in the mail. She got very excited thinking that this was legitimate. It was tough trying to put a damper on her joy. From one of your columns a while ago, I knew this was a scam. I'm en

DEAR HARRY: Today, my wife received a "winner notification" in the mail. She got very excited thinking that this was legitimate. It was tough trying to put a damper on her joy. From one of your columns a while ago, I knew this was a scam. I'm enclosing a photo of the notice. You'll observe the attempt to make it look legitimate by asking for further identification and for a declaration that you are not affiliated in any way with the company. They even invested in heavy paper and bar codes. I think they were asking for a payment of $12 as an "acquisition fee" in order to keep it in the range of those who would take a gamble. Let your readers know that they're still at it.

WHAT HARRY SAYS: Scammers know how to make their pitches look legit. The $12 they want is small by comparison to the thousands sometimes stolen. These outfits will send the "winners" a check for some sum, say $5,000 drawn on a foreign bank. They will ask for a money order, not a check, for some lesser sum, say $3,000, for payment of taxes or fees. They will have your check cleared long before their check to you comes back from your bank as uncollectible for some reason (such as, no such account). Now, you're hit for the amount you sent. If they get a 1 percent positive response, the scammers have a tidy sum from each mailing. There are new variations invented every day.