Police are warning the public of a possible new scam that claims to award Lotto winnings from Canada or Europe.

Letters claiming to be from the Euro International Lotto have popped up around town, proportedly mailed to winners of an international lottery. The letters come complete with checks that, according to the letter’s author Sharon Wasserman, are to be deposited to cover tax and a clearance fee.

“We’ve had several people around town with these letters and some have even taken them to their banks,” TPD Detective Porter Jackson said.

Jackson said that the scam is simple. The victim takes the check, which varies from $2,800 to $5,000, to their bank and deposits it. They then turn around and send a money order for that amount to someone told to them by an agent that they were told to contact by phone, before the check fails to clear at the bank.

In a letter obtained by the Gazette, the “winner” is advised to call Janice Goodwin of Integrated Financial, Inc., in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

“I’m going to have to refer you to the Euro Lottery company,” Goodwin said when a reporter called the number. “What is your number and I’ll have them call you?”

Initially posing as a letter recipient whose bank refused to take a check, the Gazette called Goodwin asking to change some information . Goodwin said that she was looking up the reporter’s information in their computer database, but that the computer was acting slow and she’d have to call back when it came up.

After the reporter revealed his identity, Goodwin ducked questions about the legitimacy of the company and repeatedly asked for my contact information to have the Euro Lotto officials contact me.

Jackson said that people need to be watchful of such scams and keep common sense close when they get such a letter.

“If you didn’t play the Euro Lottery in Canada or anywhere else, you didn’t win it,” Jackson said.