Scammers continue to perpetuate a scheme in which victims are tricked into wiring money to out-of-country accounts.

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They try to trick unsuspecting victims into wiring money through Western Union with the promise of receiving more in return.

Bill Stegall received a scam email saying he'd won money in the British national lottery - all he had to do was wire some money to Nigeria.

"I kind of thought it was (a scam) when I was reading through that I won a lottery I hadn't even played, and it said $150, I knew at that point there was something up," Stegall said.

Ken Kay received a phone call purporting to be from Publisher's Clearing House.

"I'd won a million dollars and a Mercedes, but there's import fees and taxes and they cover everything but $398," Kay says the message said. He initially became suspicious and tried to decline the caller’s request to wire the money via Western Union to Jamaica.

“I expected them to hang up, but they got angry, why'd you waste so much of our time? It seemed fair,” he said.

Publisher's Clearing House says winners of prizes are not notified over the phone or via email and will not be asked to pay to get a prize. Western Union warns customers about the scams on its website, where it has collected a number of signs to look for if customers are receiving suspicious messages.