Lottery scam arriving via email, money not included

NEW YORK - Lottery con artists have a new hook -- an official-looking email, complete with the New York Lottery logo, reports CBS New York.

"The first thing you see is 'Congratulations!' so you're going to want to read it. You probably thought that you got something; you won money," Yonkers resident Jamie Boykin told the station.

The lottery is warning it's a scam that promises big money if you'll just wire a fee to an agent overseas first.

"Anytime somebody offers you to get rich quick by giving them money first, whatever the story is, it's not true," Claire Rosenzweig with the Better Business Bureau told CBS New York.

It's the same type of lottery scam that has taken thousands of people across the country, mostly senior citizens, for millions of dollars.

According to the station, the Queens District Attorney's office recently nabbed one very persistent and creative lottery scammer named Alvin Summers. It wasn't the first time.

In 2009, authorities put Summers away after he created fake scratch-off tickets that appeared to be $10,000 winners but then sold them for a few thousand dollars. He claimed he couldn't cash them in because he owed child support.

Last week, reports CBS New York, Summers was busted in Connecticut for allegedly doing it again.

Lottery officials have a blunt warning to potential victims: There is no shortcut to hitting the lottery jackpot.