Too good to be true

Victims of a scam are being duped into thinking they've won a $1 million second-place prize in a Publishers Clearing House drawing purportedly sponsored by Reader's Digest Magazine.

Second prize?

Who gives a million bucks as a second prize?

That should be your first clue to the latest scam to be tackled by the Better Business Bureau.

Victims receive a letter about the supposed prize accompanied by a check for as much as $5,900. The scammers have been clever enough, I guess, to vary the check amount.

Anyway, instructions with the check tell the victims to call a number. When they do, some person bereft of morals says that they should cash the check and wire $4,000 to the supposed clearing house if they want to claim the $1 million treasure.

Don't do it. Don't even think about it.

That's the warning from the Better Business Bureau of the Texas Panhandle.

The letters are showing up in mailboxes across the country, and some people are even getting phone calls instead.