Ledyard - Police are warning residents to be aware of a possible scam after a Gales Ferry resident received a letter indicating he had won a $500,000 lottery prize and included a counterfeit check.

Ledyard police said they are investigating the incident after being alerted by the recipient and that they and state police have investigated similar attempted scams in the past.

The letter was received by a resident Tuesday and said the included check was to cover "insurance and processing fees," according to Ledyard police. The letter instructed the recipient to contact a claims agent and typically in these types of scams the claims agent would instruct the person to deposit the check and then make a wire transfer of the funds, police said.

The checks are routinely counterfeit and are an attempt to have the recipient forward money from a checking account before the fraud is discovered, police said.

Indicators of possible scams include promises of large cash prizes, foreign postmarks, foreign stamps and poor grammar or misspellings in the letters or on the counterfeit checks.

Police remind residents to never provide personal information to unknown requesters.