Georgia residents are being urged to watch their mail for a lottery-style scam from a company claiming to be the Atlantic Lottery Corporation.

The letter includes a phony check as a “first installment” of the recipient’s winnings, and the recipient is instructed to send $2,823 of that first check to a location in Canada to cover taxes and fees, after which the balance of the prize money will be rewarded, according to the Governor’s Office of Consumer Affairs.

The checks were not drawn from an account with the company, but instead from the YMCA of Coastal Georgia.

“Of course, since it is a scam, the check received from the ‘lottery company’ turns out to be a fake, and the victim realizes he has been swindled out of the money he sent abroad,” officials said in a news release.

Mailings that ask for money in return for prizes are a tip-off for scams, consumer advocates said; a legitimate lottery, sweepstakes or promotion will never require consumers to send money to collect a prize.

Anyone who has been the victim of an international lottery scam should contact either the National Fraud Information Center at 1-800-876-7060 or Phonebusters (for scams originating in Canada) at 1-888-495-8501.

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