According to Sheriff Jeffrey J. Murphy, the Washington County Sheriff’s Office has been receiving reports of another sweepstakes lottery scam. The scam is similar to past scams where a resident receives a letter indicating that they’ve won a sweepstakes lottery.

The letter includes instructions for the so called winner to contact a person (in this case Mr. David Hannis) for further instructions. These people speak very broken English and often hang up on you whenever they are confronted about the scam. There is also an enclosed realistic looking check which is bogus.

To claim your prize, you will be asked to pay a fee. Scammers will often say these fees are for insurance costs, government taxes, bank fees or courier charges. The scammers make money by continually collecting these fees from victims and stalling the payment of their “winnings.”
Sometimes the scammers actually do send a check, such as a few thousand dollars of winnings to trick a person into thinking the offer is legitimate. These checks will eventually bounce and no real payments will be received.

These scams often target the elderly or vulnerable, so be aware and and don't fall for this type of scam.