FIGHT BACK : CON ARTISTS LURE VICTIMS WITH PROMISE OF PRIZE MONEY.

Byline: David Horowitz 

If you get a phone call from someone claiming to be a U.S. Customs inspector and he or she says you owe duty on a sweepstakes prize, watch out! You could become the next victim of a massive international phone scam targeted at seniors in this country.

The callers work off lists compiled from sweepstakes entry forms and sold to telemarketers. They pose as U.S. Customs officials on the United States-Canadian border. They tell the victims they've won $100,000 or more in a sweepstakes contest and must pay a duty or tax, usually 7 percent, to receive their winnings. They're instructed to send a cashier's check by overnight delivery to a mail drop in Montreal. The caller then obtains a parcel tracking number from the victim so the check can be forwarded to a different mail drop.

But it doesn't stop there. Once the victims realize they've been ripped off, the same scam artists may call them back again, this time posing as a business that helps fraud victims recover their losses - for a fee, of course. And since these people are now identified as likely fraud victims, their names may be ``reloaded'' - sold and resold to other scam operators.

Customs investigators believe this scheme took in close to $15 million from victims in all 50 states. Last October, agents conducted an intensive inspection of suspicious packages addressed to Canada from four express mail facilities. They recovered approximately $82,000, which was returned to the potential victims, including three checks totaling nearly $3,000 from one victim in Lexington, Ky.

Some arrests have been made, and the investigation is continuing. But cross-border fraud is always difficult to track down and prosecute. Consumer protection laws in Canada are not uniform nationwide, and Canadian investigators often lack the resources to track scam operators from one province to another. U.S. Customs, Postal Inspectors, the FBI, the Federal Trade Commission and other American agencies assist and cooperate with Canadian authorities whenever possible. But international borders still provide an effective shield between foreign con artists and their victims in this country. We have exactly the same problem with phone scams that are run from the Caribbean and from Europe and Asia on the Internet.

Here are some tips from the U.S. Customs Service:

U.S. Customs does not collect duty or taxes on cash, including winnings from foreign sweepstakes, lotteries or contests. (The IRS will get you, but not Customs.)

Customs inspectors do not telephone individuals to collect duty owed on imported merchandise. When import duties are due on overseas parcels, they are collected by the Postal Service. Notifications are also handled by mail, not by phone.

Never send money to anyone claiming to represent a government agency without an official written notice on agency letterhead. Nor should you give out your credit card or bank account number over the phone.

If you've been a member of this kind of scam, call toll-free [phone] and ask for the nearest U.S. Customs Internal Affairs Office. Help put these con artists out of business.