From: https://www.live5news.com/2020/04/23/li ... way-scams/:
Updated: Apr. 24, 2020
CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - For millions of Americans now living without paychecks, a five-figure cash giveaway could be enticing. An old scam is circling back during this latest financial crisis.
It’s been two years since food service manager Richard Wahl won a Mega Millions jackpot worth $533 million. Since his win, scam artists claiming to be Wahl have set up fake social media accounts offering cash giveaways to followers. If only a couple of them were real... Wahl would have given all his money away several times over.
Accounts in the name Richard Wahl showed up on Facebook and Twitter almost immediately, using official pictures from his introduction with the New Jersey Lottery. As other social media platforms grow, so does the number of “Richard Wahl” accounts.
A search of the name Richard Wahl on Instagram turns up at least 60 fake accounts. The accounts offer various giveaways such as $5,000 through his charity, or $30,000 to one lucky winner. One account even makes a very generous offer of $50,000 to the first 20,000 followers. The math doesn’t really work out because that would be $1 billion which is almost twice the amount Wahl won in the first place.
Richard Wahl accounts are now appearing on TikTok too and the message is the same. A search turns up 50 Richard Wahl profiles on the video app. These come with videos from people claiming to be winners and clearly sound like they are reading from a script.
The nuts and bolts of the scam are always the same. The scammer gets some personal information such as name, birthday, and address. Then he claims the money is on its way. You will have to pay the courier, typically from FedEx, and the common form of payment is by a gift card.
If you pay, you lose that money and you don’t ever get a check from the supposed multi-millionaire. A tough time financially gets even tougher.
Donation scam posted on behalf of the targeted victim - email received:
From: <u09728@hcancerbarretos.com.br>
Date: Sun, Feb 3, 2019
Subject: € 2.000.000,00 Euro
To: Recipients <u09728@hcancerbarretos.com.br>
Lieber Freund,
Ich bin Herr Richard Wahl der Mega-Gewinner von $ 533M In Mega Millions Jackpot spende ich an 5 zufällige Personen, wenn Sie diese E-Mail erhalten, dann wurde Ihre E-Mail nach einem Spinball ausgewählt. Ich habe den größten Teil meines Vermögens auf eine Reihe von Wohltätigkeitsorganisationen und Organisationen verteilt. Ich habe mich freiwillig dazu entschieden, Ihnen den Betrag von € 2.000.000,00 zu spenden eine der ausgewählten 5, um meine Gewinne zu überprüfen, finden Sie auf meiner You Tube Seite unten.
UHR MICH HIER: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tne02ExNDrw
Das ist dein Spendencode: [DF00430342018]
Antworten Sie mit dem Spendencode auf diese E-Mail: loufinancialservices@gmail.com
Ich hoffe, Sie und Ihre Familie glücklich zu machen.
Grüße
Herr Richard Wahl
/ (translation)
Dear friend,
I'm Mr. Richard Wahl the $ 533M Mega Winner In Mega Millions Jackpot I donate to 5 random people, when you receive this email then your email was selected for a spin ball. I have distributed most of my assets to a number of charities and organizations. I have voluntarily decided to donate you the amount of € 2,000,000.00 one of the selected 5 to check my winnings, see my You Tube page below.
CLOCK ME HERE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tne02ExNDrw
This is your donation code: [DF00430342018]
Reply to this email with the donation code: loufinancialservices@gmail.com
I hope to make you and your family happy.
greetings
Mr. Richard Wahl
The Youtube video is a legit one, posted by:
CBS New York on 13.04.2018
Richard Wahl recently moved to New Jersey from Michigan and has only played the lottery a few times before winning the $533 million Mega Millions lottery jackpot.
CBS has no connection with this scam. Neither Richard Wahl. The "From: " and "To:" uses a spoofed email address - the real email address of the scammer is loufinancialservices@gmail.com.