Contact 6: Postcard able to cheat people out of millions of dollars

MILWAUKEE -- FOX6's Contact 6 is issuing an alert about a simple postcard that was able to cheat people out of millions of dollars.

The postcard involved solicitations to purchase stamps -- and the solicitations kept on coming if a potential victim said yes.

"Each solicitation had a different enticement," U.S. Postal Inspector Shari Delaney said.

The second pitch involved participating in a foreign lottery by pooling money with others.

Another pitch involved creating a pension fund by contributing a dollar a day, or portions of winnings toward the fund.

Participants got an official-looking passbook, where they could note their contributions. Occasionally, victims would even receive a check for a small amount of money.

"Victim's money was used to fund checks that went out to the victims to get them to continue reinvesting their money," Delaney said.

Officials say there were at least 6,450 victims, and the total lost is $25 million.

Officials say to avoid falling victim to this scam, just say no -- and toss these mailings in the garbage.