Some Dreams Really Don't Come True

I now get agita every time I hear one of those "dollar and a dream" lottery commercials.  Sigh.  If it were really only a dollar.  I'm not talking about the gambling addicts you see on the A&E program Intervention, I'm talking about run of the mill people who lead otherwise normal lives but hang on to a shred of hope that a lottery will put them on Easy Street and it's just a matter of time before they get there.

Someone I care about has just fallen for an international lottery scam for the second time, for the sum of thousands.  The first time caused him to start living paycheck to paycheck, and to eventually rely on bus transportation because he couldn't afford to replace his old clunker when it conked out.  The second time has left his bank account seriously in the red because he deposited a counterfeit check and drew against it to pay "processing fees" for a contest he thought he'd won.  It seems certain that he will lose his apartment and become a ward of the county. 

Could friends and family lend him enough to start over?  Last time we said yes, and did.  This time we no longer have it to lend, and some of us now need what we previously had lent, but it's all gone to some scammers.  PLEASE tell everyone you love about this heartless cruelty that's being dished out by con artists around the globe, via email and via snail mail.  Here are some authoritative web sites (including the Federal Trade Commission):

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/alerts/intlalrt.shtm

http://www.fraudaid.com/scamspam/lottery/index.htm

http://www.snopes.com/crime/fraud/lottery.asp

http://www.hoax-slayer.com/email-lottery-scams.html