Phone scam: Jamaican lottery takes elderly Taghum woman for $78,000
By Nelson Daily Staff
A bogus lottery phone scam defrauded a Nelson area woman out of thousands of dollars.
An elderly female from Taghum first received a phone call in late August, 2011 from Jamaica.
She was advised that she had won the “Winners Circle International” for $5.5 million. The women recalled entering a contest through a magazine subscription and thought this must have been what she had won.
The caller advised that $25,000 was required to obtain a “tax exemption” in order to process the winnings for delivery to Canada.
The caller was persistent and requested these funds be sent through various means, Western Union, Bank to Bank Transfers and mailing cash to individuals and banks in Jamaica.
The caller told the victim in this case not to discuss the winnings (and tax exemption) with anyone, even family members, until they received the jackpot.
Following receipt of the initial $25,000, the scam artist called back a number of times over the following months and convinced the woman to send additional funds.
Nelson Rural RCMP are advising people of the scam and not to send money in order to secure so-called lottery winnings.
“Any phone solicitation of this nature where a lottery win is required to provide funding to ‘obtain their winnings’ is a scam,” said RCMP Const. Bill Long. “If it sounds too good to be true then it probably is a fraud.”
Scam artists are often based or located in other countries making police investigation and prosecution challenging. These criminals are very convincing and are willing to go as far as setting up fake web sites and providing victims with a pass codes in an effort to convince or ‘affirm’ that they are legitimate.
“Don’t fall for this,” said Const. Long. “Never give out personal or banking information over the phone or computer.”
Police note that victims tend to be retired elderly or older individuals that are alone and the scam artists appeal to their emotions and religious beliefs.
“Those of us with elderly family members or friends are encouraged to caution their relatives and acquaintances to prevent them from being victimized,” Const. Long said.
The woman is this particular case doesn’t wish to be identified. She was defrauded over $78,000.
If anyone has been a victim of a similar scam they are asked to contact their local police.
Or, if you have information about who is responsible for this or other similar scams, please phone the Nelson Rural Detachment at (250) 352-2156 or CRIMESTOPPERS at 1-800-222-TIPS (Callers for CRIMESTOPPERS do not have to provide their identities and may be eligible for a reward).
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