Thousands lost already, police say
By: Joseph Harvie
Township police are warning residents of a phony lottery scam that has defrauded three township residents of several thousand dollars.
Police said the three victims were told they had won a lottery, but in order to claim the $600,000 prize, they had to first deposit a check sent by the company into their personal bank accounts, and then draw on that money to the pay taxes associated with the prize, police said.
Police said that none of the companies were the same, but one of the letters sent was from "Yoint Turkey-Australia Enterprises."
Several days after depositing the checks, the victims were notified that they were fraudulent, and the money the victims had used to write a check to pay the taxes was coming from their personal accounts.
Chief Raymond Hayducka warned residents about the scams and told them to be cautious.
"If the gift seems too good to be true it probably is," Chief Hayducka said. "No one should ever require you to put up your own money to claim money you have won."
Any resident who has received a similar suspicious notice about lottery winnings, should contact police at (732) 329-4646.

