Verizon, the popular wireless Internet and mobile services provider, was unwillingly involved in a scam that tried to persuade each of the victims to cough up no less than $3,200. Unknown persons, using the name of the company, tried to trick randomly selected individuals into believing they had won a $750,000 prize. The scammers made use of a well-known recipe - they sent out informative letters, which made the potential victims believe that the company had decided to offer them, for no apparent reason, the substantial prize.

In order to get their hands on the money, people were then asked to pay a "processing fee" of $3,200. In order to convince people they had nothing to lose, the criminals included a forged check, which they pretended to be worth $4,500. Even if something happened and the persons were unable to receive the several thousand dollars prize, they would have still gotten at least $1,300.

The envelope also included the phone number of a "claims agent" who, when contacted by phone, asked for personal information that, in some cases, could have led to greater gains for the scammers. In case a bank account number was revealed, besides the $3,200 amount that was indicated as necessary to send the prize, the scammers could also empty the entire account of the unfortunate person falling for the scheme.

"Verizon is in no way responsible for these letters and has no connection whatsoever with this phony 'sweepstakes.' The letters and promises they make are a fraud designed to trick unwitting consumers into sending money to the unknown parties sending the letters." the company stated in a press release. Verizon also assured people that it was useless to try to cash the bogus check, since the paper had no cover whatsoever. The persons who have already received such a letter are advised to report the incident to the United States Postal Inspection Service.

This is not the first time that the name of the company is being used for malicious purposes. Another method employed by scammers was of pretending that they would give a free cell phone in exchange of private information such as their Social Security number.