An Ephrata Borough couple recently reported that they were the victim of a mail based fraud.  The couple received a letter that appeared to be from a nationally recognized sweepstakes company.  The letter directed them to call a phone number to claim the grand prize, which included a car and weekly cash payments for the next seven years.  Upon calling the phone number, the victims learned that they were required to pay the tax, shipping and handling via Amazon gift cards.  The perpetrator of the fraud called daily requesting additional gift cards to process the winnings.  Over a four day period, the victims sent the perpetrator nearly $5,000 in gift cards.  As typical in this type of fraud investigation, the Ephrata Police have no leads to accurately identify the perpetrators. 

This link includes helpful tips from AARP to avoid Scams & Fraud:  Click Here