The envelope contains a valid-looking cashier's check, complete with a water mark, for $2,230. He's told to cash it or deposit it in his bank.

That's it. Sounds harmless, right?

But when family members start checking the Internet, they find warnings about the Lottery Resources Management & Payment Verification center - from both the Better Business Bureau and the San Francisco Police Department.

In several ways, according to San Francisco officials, the Camas man will be defrauded.

The sender might be asked to wire by Western Union several thousand to cover fees and taxes. That's a simple "advance fee" scam officials say.

Or in a new wrinkle, let's say the sender deposits the counterfeit check in his bank. Later, his bank finds out it's worthless and sends it back it to the scam artist's account, complete with the victim's bank account numbers.

Those, like Social Security numbers and other personal information, can be used by identity thieves.

Don't wire off money, don't deposit pie-in-the-sky checks from nowhere, don't even call the telephone numbers, the police warn. Or you could become a victim.

An Orchards-area man recently found an envelope in his mailbox. Oddly, the stamp, which looked to have been issued in Spain, wasn't postmarked.

That's strange, he told The Columbian. Did someone hand-deliver this letter from the International Lotto Commission, he wondered.

Inside the envelope, he reads that he's won more than $600,000 in the Loteria Primitiva, based in Madrid. But he needs to contact the sender with a copy of his passport or other identification.

And quickly. The offer ended Dec. 30.

To win a legitimate foreign lottery, you'd have to have bought a ticket, according to the Washington attorney general. And it's illegal to play them in the U.S.

Incoming fraudulent offers

The scams are coming in so quick that local residents may feel like a shortstop playing hardball against strong batters on a bumpy infield.

Only a week ago, Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna e-mailed consumer warnings about someone sending out bogus prize-winner letters with the logo of Mega Millions.

Mega Millions is a valid lottery game, and the Washington Lottery is one of its members, McKenna said.

But it's someone who's counterfeiting the Mega Millions logo. If you deposit a check the scam artists send you, Mc-
Kenna warned, "The check will bounce and will be sent back to a fraudulent organization stamped with your bank's routing and account information."

These days local residents, more and more, are reporting scams and saying they didn't fall for them.

But the pitches keep coming in.

A new ploy, according to Newsday newspaper, goes one step beyond "phishing," which lures ordinary folks into problems by posting bogus links on e-mails and pop-up ads. You think you're going to, for example, your bank's Web site, but your message goes to the crooks.

The new trick, Newsday said, is called "voice-phishing." You call a telephone number you think is that of a trusted business, but you end up talking to fraudulent operators.

The best way to avoid getting scammed, police say, is to learn about them yourself and say "no." That's because such cases are difficult and time-consuming to investigate and prosecute.

Luckily, however, there's no shortage of updated information of the myriad scams coming from who knows who, and who knows where.

The why, we know.

ON THE WEB
The Federal Trade Commission's site, www.ftc.gov - tells how to avoid being a victim of fraud and identity theft. Recommendations of The President's Identity Theft Task Force, set in motion in May by President Bush, also are available.

More information is available on the FBI's Web site, www.fbi.gov.

John Branton covers crime and law enforcement for The Columbian. He can be reached at 360-759-8012 or john.branton@columbian.com