Woman scammed out of $400,000 pursuing lottery-sized fortuneNews Story
This may well be the mother of all Internet scam cases. Janella Spears, a reverend and a registered nurse from Sweet Home, Oregon, ended up sending Nigerian fraudsters more than $400,000 when she was promised a multi-million dollar pay out from a lost relative. When she began to doubt she was sent letters from the FBI Director, the US President and the President of Nigeria. She still thought it was genuine and ignored the pleas of her family and law enforcement officials in the US. She ...
Dec 9, 2008, 1:23 am - Todd - Lottery News forum

Florida woman loses $40,000 in lottery ticket scamNews Story
A South Florida elderly woman was scammed out of thousands of dollars in an alleged lottery ticket scam, police said. Pembroke Pines police said that on Oct. 24 Aydee Suarez-Ospina, 72, was approached by the a Hispanic man and woman at the Bravo Supermarket at 12141 Pembroke Road. Police said the man told Suarez-Ospina that he was in possession of a winning lottery ticket and needed assistance in claiming the prize because he was not a U.S. citizen. The female suspect, pretending to overhe ...
Dec 5, 2008, 4:42 pm - Todd - Lottery News forum

Three accused of buying lottery tickets with stolen credit cardsNews Story
A trio of suspected theives are in the Cowlitz County Jail after police stopped their car Monday and found hundreds of lottery scratch tickets. The tickets had allegedly been purchased using VISA cards with fraudulent numbers, police said. Shortly after 1 p.m. Monday, Kelso police officer Bebe McFall heard a dispatch report about people trying to buy hundreds of dollars' worth of scratch tickets with bad debit cards at two convenience stores. The cards were denied. McFall said she recog ...
Dec 3, 2008, 8:54 am - Todd - Lottery News forum

Wardens probed over Kenyan prisoners' lottery scamNews Story
Kenya's prison officers are at the center of an investigation over their involvement in a SMS (Short Message Service) syndicate that defrauded the public through nonexistent lotteries. Last weekend, 350 mobile phones and 400 unused SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) cards were uncovered after a search of prisoners' blocks at the Kamiti Maximum Prison, and an earlier search at the Naivasha Prison uncovered 270 phones. Officers also found a register bearing the names of potential targets. The ...
Jul 15, 2008, 9:15 pm - Todd - Lottery News forum

$57M Mega Millions lottery winner is sex offender with criminal pastNews Story
Fred Topous, the Kent City man who just won $57 million in the Mega Millions lottery, is a registered sex offender with a criminal past. A co-worker describes Topous as a man who turned his life around and would do anything for a friend. Topous, 45, previously served time for larceny in Grand Traverse County. He's also been imprisoned on a weapons offense, unlawfully driving away in a vehicle, and forced-entry burglary. The burglary charge is from the 1980s. He's also on the Michigan S ...
Jun 20, 2008, 8:01 am - Todd - Lottery News forum

Two men arrested in Russia for running Western-style pyramid schemeNews Story
250,000 people defrauded of US$765 million Two men were arrested in Moscow, Russia, on Monday on charges of setting up a pyramid scheme that defrauded around 250,000 people of 18 billion rubles ($765 million), the Interior Ministry said. Two organizers of the criminal group have been detained Sokolov and Dzhasybaeva, who operated under the firms names Region-Center, Garant Invest, and Garant Kredit. They have been brought to Tatarstan [in the Volga area] for investigation proceedings, a m ...
Jun 10, 2008, 6:43 pm - Todd - Lottery News forum

Yahoo files suit against 'lottery' spammersNews Story
Yahoo Inc. said Tuesday it filed a lawsuit against Yahoo Lottery spammers. The Sunnyvale-based company said the spammers send out e-mail messages trying to make people believe they've won a lottery or prize offered by Yahoo (NASDAQ:YHOO). The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in New York City under the Federal Trademark Act, the Federal CAN-SPAM Act and related state laws. Yahoo said it does not offer any such awards and has no affil ...
May 27, 2008, 10:33 am - Todd - Lottery News forum

Man caught stealing from charity lotteryNews Story
The boss of a charity lottery has been jailed for pocketing thousands of pounds and taking his family on the dream holiday which was supposed to be the grand prize. Millionaire Leigh Windsor, aged 46, stole $550,000 from two air ambulance charities and picked phantom winners from the phone book after rigging the draws. He skimmed off the first three months of payments from thousands of customers who joined up because they believed they were supporting charity. Windsor took his family ...
Apr 8, 2008, 9:45 am - Todd - Lottery News forum

Police break up suspected lottery ticket theft ringNews Story
In Washington state, police have arrested three people on suspicion of stealing lottery scratch tickets from stores all over King and Snohomish counties, then cashing them in at other stores. The arrests follow a week-long investigation into the suspected serial lottery ticket thefts by Kirkland police, Bothell police and King County sheriff's detectives. The investigation began Feb. 7 after Kirkland police responded to a theft of lottery scratch tickets from a Kirkland gas station in the ...
Feb 14, 2008, 6:36 pm - Todd - Lottery News forum

'Most dangerous' sex offender wins $10M lottery jackpotNews Story
A convicted Level 3 sex offender has won $10 million in the Massachusetts State Lottery. The Worcester Gazette Telegram reports 56-year-old Daniel Snay, of Uxbridge, could now face charges because he failed to notify authorities that he had moved, according to Connecticut State Police. I'm flabbergasted, Connecticut State Police Lt. Paul Vance told the Telegram. His whereabouts, until you told me about this, have been unknown to us. But I guess you could say he's very fortunate. S ...
Feb 10, 2008, 9:15 pm - Todd - Lottery News forum