you send in twenty bucks and then they
guaranteed you a certain amount of money
guaranteed is a pretty powerful word so
Nancy trot nurse sent in a check for $20
it was written on what looked like a
really legitimate stationery
there was a return address
but no prize ever came I was waiting you
know and I'd go to the mailbox it's just
this is gonna help out with bills it's
just going to help out with you know
things we need never happened
instead Nancy was flooded with more
solicitations I didn't feel a huge loss
because of the amount but I felt like
this is something that needs to be
stopped and it's something that needs to
be reported so she called postal
inspectors and quickly learned she was
not alone this was a widespread
international solicitation scheme the
suspect in this case sent more than 3.7
million letters to over 150 countries in
a two-year span victims losses are over
11 million dollars on the letters in
fine print there's a disclaimer that
says participants will receive a list of
other contests no cash prize he seemed
to target senior citizens who would not
pay attention to that disclaimer and
instead would notice the bold claims
that you have won millions of dollars
inspectors say the hopes of winning
money or a prize can often cloud victims
from seeing the big picture Nancy admits
she has learned a valuable lesson pay
more attention to my gut in kind of what
was happening and rather than start
thinking about how I would use the money
or how much I needed it because that I
think is where I got diverted