09.28.05
More El Pasoans Falling for Scams
Oct 10, 2005, 08:57 AM

EL PASO, TX. - Con artists are targeting dozens, if not hundreds of people in El Paso and ripping them off for thousands of dollars.

Wednesday morning Sergeant Tyler Grossman of the El Paso Police Department's White Collar Crime Unit met with more than 150 employees of Teacher's Credit Union. Sgt. Tyler's message to tellers: help keep elderly from being scammed.

One scam many people are falling for involves getting a letters telling them they won thousands - or millions of dollars. However, the catch is to get the money the recipiant has to send money. The scammers says the money is to pay for taxes on the winnings, other times a victim is told the money is going to pay a courier deliever the millions.

Another scam curently making the rounds is called "the Nigerian Scam," but the letters now come from several different countries. One woman who contacted ABC-7 was a victim not only the Nigerian scam, but of the "Canadian Lottery" scam as well.

Officials tell ABC-7 that a simple tip to keep from being scammed by the so-called lottery is this: if you didn't play the Candian Lottery, then don't assume you have won the Canadian Lottery.

Other scams making the rounds in the region are:

* The e-Bay scam - Someone pays you more than the winning bid and then asks you to wire them the difference - chances are the check they sent is fraudulent.
* Fake job offers from Careerbuilder.com - where an up-front fee is requested to get the interview or job.
* Fake Check Cashing - People haning outside local banks and credit unions - convincing people to cash hot checks for them.

For those residents who feel they may have been scammed, the El Paso Police Department asks residents to call the White Collar Crime Unit at (915)564-7000

For more information and tips on avoiding scams, visit the sites below for more information.

http://www.kvia.com/Global/story.asp?S=3912813&nav=AbC0