Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation - FDIC-Insured - Backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. Government
Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation - FDIC-Insured - Backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. Government
The Scam Gram image of scams
• Mary received a message from her friend Betsy on Facebook Messenger. Mary had won $2 million dollars in a
sweepstakes.
• Mary reached out to John and immediately received all the information needed to claim her $2 million
sweepstakes winnings.
• Per John, Mary just needed to pay a processing fee of $500.00 to claim the prize. John stated the payment
should be sent by purchasing a $500.00 Target gift card.
• Mary went to Target and purchased a Target gift card for $500.00. She scratched the code information on the
back of the card and took a picture and sent it to John, as instructed.
• A few days went by, and Mary had not received her sweepstakes prize. Mary reached out to John for more help.
• John said he looked into it and said the processing fee was miscalculated. Mary needed to send $1,000.00 to
the processing clerk in Arizona. Mary visited her bank and purchased a cashier’s check for $1,000.00 payable to
the name provided by John.
• Mary did not enter a sweepstakes to play.
• Did not confirm with Betsy or John in-person about the sweepstakes winnings.
• Purchased gift card(s) to pay a fee.
• Purchase cashier’s check and sent to unknown individual via overnight FedEx package.
• Never received any type of sweepstakes winnings.
• STOP communicating with the individual.
• COMMUNICATE with your financial institution.
• ALWAYS question messages received from unknown individuals or individuals you have not spoke to in a long period of time.
• ALWAYS do your own research before sending funds to unknown individuals.
• NEVER purchase gift cards unless they are truly for a gift. You should not have to pay in gift cards.