An Alabama woman recently got $16,800 back after a joint U.S. and Canadian investigation into fraudulent telemarketers who represented themselves as lottery officials.
The Alabama resident, whose name was not released, got her money back on May 14, according to a press release from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
A multi-agency U.S-Canada initiative called "Project COLT" was responsible for helping return the money.
Many variations exist on the lottery scams, according to ICE. The scammers tell unknowing or elderly victims they have won the lottery and must pay fees and service charges to be able to collect their fictitious winnings. Con artists often pose as lawyers, customs officials, police officers or lottery company officials to bilk their victims out of millions of dollars, according to ICE.
"I am a lifetime resident of Alabama and was unaware of how complex these schemes can be and how official the presentations were that led me to believe this was an actual offer and legal chance to win," according to a statement from the Alabama victim, who requested her name be withheld.
"The letters and phone calls appeared legitimate as the telemarketers appeared to know a lot of information about me and my family," according to the Alabama fraud victim. "I never knew how this scheme worked until ICE agents returned a portion of my funds that were seized in the fraudulent telemarketing scheme and educated me on the illegal practices of these
telemarketers and how many victims do not come forward to educate the public."
The Alabama fraud victim advised that if someone has a question on similar offers that they call their local police department and ICE to protect against becoming another victim. "I am convinced that if you are a victim you can make a difference by reporting this to ICE and they will keep everything confidential."
Raymond R. Parmer, Jr, special agent in charge of the ICE Office of Investigations in New Orleans, said the case is a good example of the cooperation between ICE and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
"Because of this cooperation, fraudulent telemarketers and other criminals are discovering how difficult it is for them to hide their illegal activities from authorities," Parmer said. "We are dedicated to identifying and dismantling these types of criminal operations wherever and whenever we find them."
Billions of dollars are lost in the U.S. and Canada each year due to telemarketing fraud, according to ICE.
Project COLT began in 1988 and has seized and returned more than $25 million to U.S. and Canadian victims of telemarketing fraud, according to the press release.
ICE has initiated numerous complex criminal investigations due to Project COLT efforts, resulting in 26 U.S. Grand Jury indictments and 161 U.S. and Canada-based arrests. In addition, Canadian law enforcement authorities have executed more than 50 search warrants and shut down 44 Western Union branch offices involved in telemarketing fraud conspiracies.
Good for her .... she's very fortunate to get anything back.
Good for her.
I'm glad to hear some of these guys are getting caught and people are getting money back but what I'd really like to hear is that the perps are doing serious time for it. If they don't get hard time when caught, the crime will just continue. They have to make it not worth the risk.
I am glad that she got money back!
These Canadian predators sent one of their letters to my son.
The Canadian government does little to stop this!
We should go after them!
I'm tired of hearing about people starving because some punks took their savings. Make the punishment fit the crime. Bread and water and hard labor in Death Valley, hopefully with their cohorts/family beside them. Make the rest think twice about hurting people just because you can. I don't understand why there isn't more private justice for these SOBs. Don't people have moral outrage at their lives being ruined?
ie Enron and Madoff
I think that people DO have moral outrage when their lives are being ruined due to them giving their money to an 'electronic thief.' However, it probably costs more money to hire these HUGE government teams of computer professionals/prior electronic thieves to draw these thieves out. I notice that the article indicated that billions of dollars are stolen from individuals each year (I presume that is $100+ here, $100+ there), yet since 1988 only millions have been retrieved.
So few people actually pay INCOME TAXES in the U.S.A. each year (I don't know if more people would pay if it was a 15% flat fed income tax or lower tax bracket %s, and if deductions weren't allowed anymore), I presume that is why the thieves will always remain several steps ahead of prosecution. Also, even if the money was in the coffers, I'm not okay with my government running a program that doesn't pay for itself. I consider that fiscal irresponsibility. Perhaps it is better for each country to run their own ad campaign which continually informs society what is illegal vs. legal gambling ... not all people over 65 years of age have dementia or Alzheimers causing nutrition deficiencies. It's important to rein in greed, telling people that gambling is not the same as earning interest or dividends ... and even that can be set up as a high risk gamble (sudden stock or mutual fund drops or complete 'evaporation'). Money is good, yet it requires wise management and distribution by its holders lest they end up moneyless.