Undated -- Who wouldn't love to win the lottery? The current Powerball drawing is worth $212 million. So when you get a call saying you won $2.5 million, you may get excited. But authorities say you should stop and think, before you answer any questions over the phone -- especially if you never bought a ticket!
Randy Jones, with the Alamance County Sheriff's Department said, " I've spoken with about eight or nine people in the past few weeks in this county that have all won one, two, two and a half million dollars and a Mercedes supposedly. Unless we're the luckiest county in the world, I doubt these things are credible."
Jones said, the calls are an old trick to try to get your personal information and/or figure out when you won't be home. If it's a local schemer, they may be trying to figure out the best time to rob your home. But the other common problem: international schemers. Powers said, "When it reaches outside of the United States, we are practically powerless to do anything about it, even if we could get the individual identified. We're just not going to be able to apprehend them because we have no jurisdiction."
Powers said they have managed to track some of the phone numbers. But most of the area codes are from out of the country, some have been tracked to disposable phones, and some aren't even assigned to a geographic area.
If you get a call you think could be a scheme, Powers said there are some things you can do.
-Don't give out any personal or financial information
-Never say when you won't be home
-Try to stay on the line to get information out of them to report to authorities. But be careful when using this approach. Don't divulge any of your own personal information in the process.
-Be very cautious of any unsolicited work of that nature because it can be fraudulent activity, people from out of town that come to your door, things of that nature. You need to always research any type of contact.
-Don't try to call the number back. You could end up calling an international number, and paying hundred of dollars in phone charges.
-Hang up.
WFMY News 2