Scammers use Better Business Bureau's name for fake lotto

The story is true, but the names have been changed to defraud the innocent. It may sound like the start of an episode of Dragnet, but it's the true story of how scammers were able to con an elderly man out of $80,000 and many more out of their hard earned money. According to a warning from the Better Business Bureau, which was also reported by MSNBC, scammers used the Better Business Bureau name -- and the names of actual BBB employees -- to trick consumers into wiring money to claim their lottery winnings.

When the individuals wired their "processing" fee to the lottery officials they immediately lost their money and worse, gained a reputation among scammers as a person who could be conned. A reformed scammer recently told the Scam Detectives Website that responding to an email or paying any amount of money would place you on a list for additional scams ranging from similar lottery and advance fee fraud to scams that claim they can recover your money ... for a small processing fee of course.