Lottery News and Stories
Scam artists strike in Ottumwa
Wednesday, February 22, 2006 posted 01:04 AM EST
(OTTUMWA) An Ottumwa woman hit by scammers is speaking out to help others.
Donna McDaniel recently fell victim to a check scam, and lost thousands of dollars. She contacted KTVO to make sure that
others don't get duped.
McDaniel's story starts in early January. She received a letter from 'First Universal Lotto Promotions' telling her that
she had won a cash prize. After that, a second letter came telling McDaniel how to claim her money.
"The second letter explained that I had won it in a 'First Lotto' promotion, and I had signed up either online or at a mall
or something somewhere," McDaniel said.
"Do you remember signing up at the mall or online?"
"I sign up for things quite often, so I thought maybe," McDaniel said.
McDaniel contacted 'First Universal Lotto Promotions'. A spokesperson told her that before she could receive her money, McDaniel
had to pay state and federal taxes, but not to worry because the company would take care of that, too.
"I didn't have to give him any banking information. I didn't have to give him any money or buy anything. They didn't ask
for anything," McDaniel said.
'First Universal Lotto Promotions' sent McDaniel a check for $3,000 to cover the taxes. She was to send $1,350 for federal
tax and the same amount for state tax.
"What was left over he said that was mine out of the winnings and in 24 hours FedEx would bring the rest of the prize, $57,000.
I asked this man at least a half dozen times, I told him I'm having a hard time right now. Please tell me if this is for
real, and he just kept insisting that, 'Yes, it is for real,'" McDaniel said.
McDaniel and her husband waited at home the next day for their prize to arrive.
"He didn't come of course," McDaniel said.
That's when she learned it was all a scam.
"I always thought that I was smarter than that anyway, you know, and I never played into any scam, and I always threw away
everything I got in the mail that I didn't know where it came from, but it just seemed so real," McDaniel said.
McDaniel is now left to cover the $3,000 fake check, but she tells KTVO her bank may be able to write off her loss as fraud,
but right now an investigation into the matter is still on going.
KTVO researched 'First Universal Lotto Promotions' on the web, and found several reports from people who had received the
same type of letter.
Ottumwa police have this warning for Heartland residents.
"What I would encourage people to realize is that they are not going to get anything for free, and second, if they haven't
entered a sweepstakes, they haven't paid for a lottery ticket, or if they haven't somehow contacted the awarding agency,
sort of speak, there is no way they are going to win. There is no way that someone is going to find their name, or address
if they haven't entered it in the first place," Ottumwa Police Lieutenant Jim Clark said.
Clark tells people who receive a suspicious winnings announcement by mail or e-mail to simply throw it way or delete it.
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