A Rite Aid Scam In PA to an eldery woman involves a phony sweepstakes in which callers tell victims they've won money through the Rite-Aid drug store chain.

The scam involved a caller from a phone number that has since been traced to Jamaica. The woman told the elderly woman she won $18,000 but had to purchase a "Green Dot card" for $500 to cover the taxes on her winnings.

The cards are pay-in-advance devices that Rite-Aid customers can use legitimately like a debit card but which, in this scam, was used to access the woman's money.

State police are warning western Pennsylvanian Rite Aid customers of the scam. Scams from callers targeting the elderly has been a groing trend.

The North Caroline Lottery issued a warning about lottery ticket scams. The NC scam includes being called up and asked to shell out more money to claim a lottery prize.

Some recent lottery winners reported being contacted by callers who said they were from the NC Education Lottery. The callers told players they had won additional prizes, later asking players to buy prepaid debit cards and provide the numbers to them before obtaining these lottery prizes.

No legitimate lottery asks winners who win a prize to pay money up front to receive it.  And once you buy your lottery ticket, no additional money is required from you to claim a prize that you win.

Attorney General Roy Cooper urged consumers to be careful and said his office is available to provide assistance.

"Anyone who promises you've won a prize but demands money before you can claim it is trying to rip you off," Cooper said. "Don't take the bait, and report lottery and other prize scams to my office."

NC will also have customer service representatives and security officials who are here to help lottery players with any questions they have about the lottery games.

Lottery scams, unfortunately, are all too common, but they can easily be avoided with a little common sense.

So be careful when you buy a ticket and don't pay one cent more than the face value of the ticket after you purchase it. There are plenty of useful tools online to make sure these scams don't affect you.