No muddy qualifying statements. No smiling visage of Ed McMahon in your mailbox. No buying six magazine subscriptions and waiting for the armored truck to arrive in your driveway.

Where do you sign, right?

Exactly, which is why you shouldn’t laugh at Wendall Easter. There’s no gain in lecturing him about what he would’ve, could’ve, should’ve done.

He’s out roughly $50,000, so if you learn anything on a stormy, dog-day Sunday, learn from his mistake.

“It was all a scam,” Easter said.

One that started innocently enough.

Easter, 78, received a call at his Rumford home congratulating him on his would-be windfall from a Canadian lottery.

There’s the first red flag.
The long, long wait
“Foreign lotteries are illegal” in this state, said Linda Conti, Maine’s Assistant Attorney General. “Apparently, people don’t realize that, but I’m telling them it’s true.”

Another problem: Easter’s “winnings” were conditional. The caller convinced him to wire money to Canada in multiple installments.

“They told me the prize couldn’t be released until I sent them money for taxes and shipping,” Easter said.

Weeks morphed into months. With no package forthcoming, Easter and his son, Clayton, contacted Rumford police and the Attorney General’s office.

Conti delivered bad news and worse news.

The bad? Easter isn’t the first or last victim. Worse? Nobody on this side of the border has legal recourse to prosecute or retrieve his lost investment.

“Once it goes out of the country,” Easter said, “they can’t do anything about it.”

Calls originating from foreign soil and preying upon unsuspecting Americans are beyond the immediate reach of U.S. law enforcement, which is why they’ve become so frequent and so brazen, she says.

Another kind of insidious sales pitch arrives by e-mail, perhaps claiming to originate from Nigeria. I’m a prince, says the mailer, and I’ve chosen to share my fortune with you. All it’ll cost you is your bank account number.
Vulnerable targets
What’s that? You say you’d never fall for that one?

Thank heavens for your healthy cynicism.

“We’ve had 180 people within the last year forward us faxes or e-mails about the Nigerian scam,” Conti said. “We know of a person from Dexter who actually wired money to Nigeria. We say, Delete them, don’t respond to them.’ We forward them to the federal government.”

Unfortunately, senior citizens top the high-risk group.

Many live alone but enjoy socializing and are easily swayed by a charming, friendly voice. Others, newly computer literate, have discovered the novelty of online chat rooms.

They give away their e-mail address as casually you might share your cell phone number with a business contact. And then, into their life walks the Nigerian prince.

“If you have someone like this and are in a position to be an involved family member, ask questions,” Conti said. “Find out who they’re talking to, who they’re chatting with.”

Conti notes that people who watch the evening news or read the daily paper faithfully aren’t easy prey.

If you have a telephone or Internet access, however, you’re at risk.

“Some people are just good scammers,” she said. “They’re skillful at making something that’s bad seem not bad.”

So use common sense.

Make it ridiculously easy on yourself. Don’t give out any personal information over the telephone, particularly your Social Security number, credit card information, calling card information or any personal financial details.

Don’t repeat personal information or verify that any information is correct. Chances are, the caller’s aim is to sell you a product or service, and even the word “yes” could have costly consequences.

And, if the Canadian lottery comes a-callin’, don’t reciprocate by involving Western Union.

Conti advises you to contact an organization called Phone Busters in Ontario at (705) 495-8501.

“I don’t know how we stop cross-border fraud, but that’s a good place to start,” she said. “It’s more direct than calling us.”

Or how’s this for direct?

“If someone asks you for money,” says Easter, “don’t send it.”

Kalle Oakes is staff columnist. He may be reached by e-mail at koakes@sunjournal.com.