A new email scam is playing off the good fortunes of a Kansas City man who won a huge lottery last year to entice potential victims to shell out hundreds of dollars to claim their share of the prize.

People all over the U.S. have received emails saying the local mechanic who won a $71.5 million Powerball jackpot in December wants to give then $750,000 each as his way of “paying it forward.”

But authorities warn the ruse has all the earmarks of a Nigerian letter fraud scheme that has been going on even before the Internet.

FBI spokeswoman Bridget Patton reminds people of the old adage that anything that looks too good to be true probably is.

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Information from: The Kansas City Star