ATTLEBORO - City police are warning residents to watch your mail boxes.

E-mail boxes, that is.

Seems some residents have complained about e-mails they have received recently saying they won the lottery or have gotten a sizeable inheritance from a long lost relative.

Trash them by hitting the delete button, police Capt. David Proia said Thursday.

"If you get them or e-mail from somebody you don't recognize, don't even open it. Just delete it," Proia said, adding that he has gotten the same e-mails on his computer at the police station. The e-mail scam is designed to get personal and financial information from people in the guise of lottery winnings or inheritances. The senders want bank account information and other personal information, and ask people to send money to get the payment of the lottery or inheritance, Proia said.

"If somebody out of nowhere say you won $10,000 in the lottery and you have to send them money to get the money, it's a scam," Proia said.

No one has reported falling victim to the scams. But Proia says the e-mails are prevalent from time to time and the public needs to know they are scams.