They are called lotteries, sweepstakes and contests.
They come from countries around the world.
They all say you won hundreds or thousands of dollars.
And most, if not all, are scams.
U.S. Postal Inspector Patricia Armstrong hauled out a box, stuffed with hundreds of winning notices from these scammers.
All of them were sent to one Valley man in just 3 months.
That's because he did answer one of them and that alone landed him on a so-called "sucker's" list.
"Once they respond to these and the sweepstakes people just deluge them and they send their e-mail address to a lot of different people," Armstrong said.
Actually, one sells the address to another and so on.
Though these scams have been around for years, Armstrong says she still sees people sending money to get these nonexistent prizes.
"The catch on all of these is they want you to send in the taxes or the delivery fee. So, ok, you won $10 million but you have to send us a $50 cashier's check to pay the taxes, so you can get the money," Armstrong says.
The warning signs are obvious.
The letters are contests you never entered, so you couldn't possibly win.
Also, most sound official and many claim to be government related.
And all ask that you send money in order to collect winnings.
If there's one thing to remember, never pay to collect your winnings.
If you receive one of these sweepstakes or suspect mail fraud, contact the
U.S. Postal Inspector's Office.
