Nanaimo victim of lottery scam spread on Facebook

Nanaimo RCMP are reminding people to be cautious, after another lottery scammer bilked a local woman out of $1,700.

The woman responded to a link forwarded to her from a friend on Facebook concerning a cash prize of $150,000 from Publisher’s Clearing House.  The victim opened the link then began to correspond with an unknown person about claiming the grand prize. 

She was told that in order to claim the prize, she needed to send the unknown person $1700. After sending the money, all correspondence broke off with this person. 

RCMP say this type of scam is very common and unfortunately many fall for it.  They say a legitimate lottery will NEVER require you to send money in advance of claiming a prize.  Additionally, in order to win a lotto, you need to purchase a ticket in order to win. 

To learn more about current scams, go to the Canadian Anti- Fraud Centre at https://www.antifraudcentre-centreantifraude.ca/scams-fraudes/azindex-eng.htm