HKJC Lotteries Limited

Hi,

I have just been scammed by a company claiming to be HKJC Lotteris Limited of of Calgary, AB Canada. They sent me a letter and a check for $2900 for the "taxes and fees" for the prize money of $120 thousand dollars that I would receive. I was to cash the check and then wire the money to a supposed "International Tax Consultant." Of course the check has now been returned and my account is now negative the money. I contacted the police in Calgary but they were no help. They said that the phone number and address of the company does not exist and that this happens alot but they are very hard to catch these people. My question is...is there anything I can do to get my money back or am I just screwed?

Hi and welcome.

I'm so sorry to hear you've been scammed
Unfortunately the money is gone and there is no way to retrieve it. These scammers use fake names, fake id's, internet cafes and mobile phones, which makes apprehending them almost impossible.

Please do be careful of a money recovery scam which often follows once you stop sending the scammers money. They will open a new email account, claim to be from a government agency with offers of help to retrieve your money, for yet another "fee"

Hi Scammed07. I'd like to repeat what Julia has said and add my sympathy. Cheque scams are one of the most popular formats that scammers use and they're very convincing.
I should add another reason as to why getting your money back is nigh on impossible:
Although your scammer claims to be in Canada, it's 99% certain that he's operating out of West Africa somewhere. As you're probably aware, this makes catching him and prosecuting him totally unlikely.

Julia has given you one very important piece of advice. Go check out how Recovery Scams work. Once you've lost money to a scammer, he always thinks he's in with another chance of stealing from you and will try again using this method. You need to be aware of how they work and be ready for this email when it drops into your inbox.
You can find instances of this scam on this forum or Google "Recovery+scam" and find more information.

Hi, I just got a letter form Mr. Phillips earlier this month, and did not want to call him until I did a little research . . . the check and winnings would have been great, but after not being able to find much on HKJC, Robert Phillips, and getting no results whatsoever for their address and phone number on Google, I am convinced that this is a hoax.



Thank you also for your posting. I am sorry that it happened to you!!!

It's often a good idea to try Googling the email address of the sender as often (although not always) it will show up as a scam. As far as I know there are no companies that do random email lotteries so you can always safely delete the email.

Ed, the sad part is that I received the letter via the good ole USPS . . . this scam is no longer just out on the web . . .

^^To right, I got a snail mail 419 letter the other day, my first in 10 years. This is how scam letters originally started in the days before email was commonplace. In this situation it's worth sticking the senders info into Google and seeing what comes up, if it is a scam then usually people are discussing it on a forum somewhere. Of course any lottery that you didn't actually enter is always a scam.

If it is via the USPS the Postal Inspector will be interested in it. They may be able to help track it back and see if it is possible to find these people.

Also remember, e-mail or USPS, you cannot win a lottery you did not enter.