is the worst part of the job you get a call from someone and they sound desperate in this case it's the daughter of an elderly woman Margaret Berkman miss Bergman is retired schoolteacher lived in a nursing home his trouble breathing daughter's got her hands full raising two kids of her own a camera mom till she called us after visiting her mom one afternoon she's got a lot of mail from Spanish groups page or on the motto and the Australian lottery moms checkbook at a lot of entry to Higgins no deposit to the winnings with names are different I've heard the story before the scammer some crooks tell people they can make money playing the lottery in foreign countries they promised better odds tax-free winnings make it easy to play now you can call their toll free number send them a check or use your credit cards we even set up a website they promise to hold the tickets and send your winnings overnight and they promise a lot of things but deliver enough there's like ads don't mention that it's illegal to play a foreign lottery in the united states that if you play even once your name will go on a sucker's list and you'll get a mailbox with a scammer office if they also forget to mention that instead of winning some people lose everything the worst part of the job best part is putting away the people who do this I didn't know who had taken mrs. Bergman savings yet I knew his luck was about to change [Music] we'll get out the club play around [Music] [Music] you [Music] themselves under vacuum this is an outrage insulting three here if you come to my office tomorrow no let's not make you sick Jimmy when they told my lawyers then island the sort of thing let's make their way to get home okay I'll tell you later this is ridiculous what are we really talking about policy that comes anyway what you look like its ability my lawyer will have this badge as I said objects and weapons anything really I might be willing to discuss a plea but of course that would depend on the information that you have for all of us I would suggest that you just answered the inspectors questions and then we can talk about your situation later I might be willing to drop the rico campus once you give us the rundown on this Australian lottery how does this work well that's really quite simple we print up these flashy brochure and then sent it out to our list what listen well you know our mailing list told our people usually retirees snowbirds vacationing in Florida that sort of thing anyway we tell them that they can play the lottery in Spain or Canada Australia we tell them that the odds are better playing the lottery overseas and if they play the Powerball here in the United States so people will buy 10 20 tickets then once they bite on that one we'll put them on another list a new one for suckers and we'll send them other half dozen mailing usually telling them about the Irish sweepstakes so the English lotto usually they'll bite on that one too so you're strictly small-time just a few bucks here and there hardly feed once we really get them to bike then we call them and tell them they've actually won only we need a couple of thousand dollars to pay off the taxes on their winnings before we can send them a check you'd be surprised at how easy it is what you're all in all this mr. Brue we know the checks don't come to you not directly anyway well usually set up a small shop somewhere give it a fancy name like international exports incorporated and hire a couple of guys to pick up the mail cash the checks maybe somebody else to work the phone someone well add their names of the suckers list and then sell it for big bucks to another operation you realize you're talking about organized crime don't you mr. Prince okay this isn't the sopranos varieties are just a couple of people exchanging legitimate mailing lists which is not against the law that's not my checked it doesn't bother you taking money from these people why should it these people are greedy themselves they've got piles of money lying around and they want to get rich quick it's my duty to take this money from them besides if I didn't do it some other guy would so if you're through sitting in judgment let's get to the chase do we have a deal or what mr. Brennan you haven't told us anything that we don't already know yet I'm going to need a list of all your associates including the main to the folks that gave you this mailing lists and those that you sell it to we'll see what you have to trade and then we'll discuss a plea Radio check back a few minutes currently brundun serving five years in a federal prison as part of his plea agreement unfortunately postal inspectors intercept millions of pieces of mail every year promoting foreign lotteries but many more make it through the consumers and trick people into the scam there are some simple steps you can take to avoid becoming a victim one remember it's illegal to play a foreign lottery in the US if you do you're breaking the law too there are no secrets to winning a foreign lottery in fact the lotteries themselves usually don't even exist three if you purchase even one ticket your name will be added to a sucker's list and you'll start receiving lots of offers from bogus lotteries or investment opportunities these crooks actually buy and sell these mailing list to aid their scams for keep your credit card numbers bank accounts and other personal information to yourself scam artists often ask for these on the phone lastly if you think you've been the victim of one of these scams you need to report it contact your local United States Postal Inspector you can find us in the phone book or on our website at usps.com / postal inspectors remember if you're tempted to play a foreign lottery you won't win anything but you may lose at all [Music] [Music] [Music] No [Music] [Music]