Minnesota Attorney General's Office

1400 Bremer Tower
445 Minnesota Street
St. Paul, MN 55101

(651) 296-3353
(800) 657-3787

M - F 8 am - 5 pm

TTY:(651) 297-7206
TTY:(800) 366-4812

TOP 5 CONSUMER SCAMS
From the Office of Attorney General Lori Swanson

1. Foreign Lotteries. The Foreign Lottery Scam is initiated by a call, letter, email, or fax claiming that the consumer has won a prize in a foreign lottery or contest. The fraudulent operator typically requests that the victim disclose their banking information for a “deposit” but instead drains the account through unauthorized withdrawals. Oftentimes this scam is combined with the Fake Check Scam. The fraudulent operator may also ask the victim to send money to cover fees for processing, legal operations, foreign customs, taxes, etc. No one has ever received their supposed winnings through this scam, and such scams violate federal law.
2. Advance Fee Fraud. Advance Fee Fraud is a long-running scam whereby an unscrupulous actor convinces a consumer to send payment or an “advance fee” in exchange for a line of credit. Once the perpetrator of the scam receives the fee, however, the credit is not extended, and oftentimes the perpetrator may ask for additional money for “fees” or “processing” charges.
3. Fake Check Scams. Another form of Advance Fee Fraud is known as the Fake Check Scam. The perpetrator of the fraud may pretend to be interested in buying an item over the Internet or renting an apartment. Rather than paying the exact amount of transaction, however, the “buyer” will send a cashier’s check for an amount in excess of the agreed upon value, asking the seller to wire the difference to the “buyer’s” agent (oftentimes located in another state or country). Once the seller has sent the extra money onward, they learn that the check or money order is fraudulent and never hear from the “buyer” or the “agent” again.
4. Foreign Advance Fee Fraud. In this variation of the Advance Fee Fraud, the target of the scam receives a letter, email, or fax from someone claiming to represent a foreign government entity, attorney, or relative of a foreign dignitary requesting “help.” The scam artist requests assistance in transferring millions of dollars into the United States, in exchange for paying the recipient a commission (usually between 25-35 percent of the transferred funds). Through correspondence, the perpetrator of the scam convinces the target to disclose their private bank account information to “deposit” the funds, but instead drains the account. In the latest twist of this scam, the fraudster poses as an American soldier trying to wire money out of Iraq.
5. Phishing. Fraudulent operators may try to “phish” for a consumer’s private banking information in order to make unauthorized withdrawals from the consumer’s account. Phishing begins with a call, letter, email, or fax purporting to come from the victim’s financial institution or another company that the consumer does business with. The correspondence typically requests that the consumer disclose or “verify” their private financial information. Often the correspondence includes an official looking logo, and asks the consumer to contact a “secure” telephone line or Internet site. Typically, the consumer is redirected to a boiler room or fraudulent website, however, where they are convinced to disclose their information for “security” or other reasons. In some cases online, the scam operator may even download spyware onto a victim’s computer with the ability to find the private information of the victim.