HOUSTON -- What seemed like a shot at easy money turned out to be a scam.
Kevin Rogers was contacted by an old high school friend on Facebook.
"Can you keep a secret?" Rogers was asked. "I'm like, 'Yeah, between me and you, what's up?' Then he says, 'Call and get in touch with this guy.'"
That guy was Jim Frederick. He claimed to be a lottery agent.
"I work for Powerball Corporation Lottery," Rogers read from a text message. "Your money is available for you to claim. You are ready now."
Rogers admits that he didn't listen to his gut because he trusted his old buddy, so he wired $1,500 for taxes and fees and was supposed to get $150,000 the next day.
The money never arrived.
"I feel like a big clown, big knucklehead for doing -- it sure do," he said.
He has learned from the loss and hopes others do, too.
"Don't fall for it," he said directly into the camera. "If it don't look good, and it sounds like a duck and quacks, that's what it is."
Rogers believes scammers hacked into Facebook because his friend said he never sent the messages.
The Better Business Bureau describes this as another example of the lottery scam. They say don't ever wire money to someone you don't know.