Scammers are targeting victims with an advanced fee scam that uses the name of popular drug store Rite Aid as bait.
The scam involves a scammer calling a victim pretending to be from US drug store Rite Aid and asserts that the victim has won a large sum of money in the Rite Aid sweepstakes lottery.
In order to retrieve the money the victim must first purchase a Green Dot card, which acts like a pre-paid debit card and give the serial number to “Rite Aid” – i.e. the scammer. The victim is informed that the money they put onto the Green Dot card, often as much as $500, is to pay taxes to collect the winnings. After giving the serial number of the card to the scammer, the scammer collects the money and disappears.
Whilst this scam isn’t on the Internet, it follows the exact template that advance fee fraud takes, where victims are lured into paying fees and fines under the false impression that they will collect a much bigger payout.
And the scam is likely to use many retail outlets as bait so always be aware of unsolicited phone calls asserting you have won lotteries or sweepstakes, and remember that no legitimate promotion will require you to cough up money before you can collect your winnings – either online or offline.