The Office of the Kansas State Treasurer has recently revealed that a Kansas resident was the victim of a scam by a government imposter.
The scammer contacted the victim via phone call and claimed to be a representative of the Kansas State Treasurer’s office. The victim was told that he had recently won a sizable sum of money from the lottery. The scammer then informed the victim that collecting his lottery winnings would require a payment.
The victim was directed to wire funds as well as load money onto a gift card and once payment was received, the scammer indicated the State Treasurer would visit his home to present the winnings.
Imposter scammers may call, text or email to begin their scam. They often use caller ID to deceptively appear like the communication is coming from a reputable entity. Any request to make a payment in order to receive funds is likely fraud.
Any request for payment using gift cards is never a legitimate method a government entity
would utilized.