Inheritance Scams Lead to Arrests

The United States Postal Service has recently seized over $2.1 billion in counterfeit checks and more than 77 people have been arrested in connection with scams originating in e-mail messages which play on the recipient’s desire to get “something for nothing.”

According to Post Office Cracks Down On Fake Check Scam, CBSNews.com, Oct. 3, 2007:

Most of the cons start with e-mails telling of an inheritance or lottery win and ask the victim to help bring the money to the United States. The victim is asked to cash a check that comes in the mail and to send part of the money back to the person sending it, said Greg Campbell, inspector in charge of global security and investigations for the Postal Inspection Service.

Then that person disappears with the money and the original check bounces, leaving the victim with a loss. * * *

U.S. Assistant Attorney General Alice Fisher said: “There is no lottery. There is no inheritance. The checks are not real. But there are real victims. The crime knows no borders, and our coordinated law enforcement knows no borders.”