Alabama man loses $80,000 in foreign lottery scam

Jul 15, 2014, 8:01 am (24 comments)

Scam Alert

Includes video report

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama — Dannie Perry was a generous man who found himself caught up in a lottery scam. After relentless harassment from the criminals, he finally got them to stop contacting him.

Postal inspectors have a reminder to avoid this happening to you or your loved ones.

"It was a great American dream to win some money where you could retire and you could take care of your grand kids and your family and just do what you wanted to do," says Dannie Perry, a fraud victim.

Perry thought he won $2.5 million in a lottery sweepstakes. All he needed to do was pay a fee.

"Eight-five dollars to win $2.5 million was a small amount to invest, so I invested. It escalated and it just went into the thousands," says Perry.

The initial fee didn't bring his pay day. The scam artists kept calling and demanding more money before they'd release the winnings.

"I just got caught up in it and I exhausted some savings that I had. Then, I went to my charge cards, borrowing cash off charge cards," says Perry.

There was no prize. Perry lost almost $80,000 in pursuit of the lottery money.

"I got disgusted with myself for getting involved when I should have known better. I finally just told them I didn't have any more money," says Perry.

"It's a pipe dream. We would all love to get a lot of money," says Roger Mayhew, a U.S. Postal Inspector.

Postal inspectors say Perry is one of thousands of foreign lottery victims. These scams are costing many older Americans their life savings, retirement funds, and credit.

"We need to stop it on the front end before people have lost hundred of thousand of dollars," says Mayhew.

Awareness and communication are key. If you get a call or mailing claiming you've won a lottery, talk to family and friends who are likely to steer you in the right direction.

"You may be the lifeline that can protect them from losing their retirement that they saved and worked all of their life for," says Mayhew.

Postal inspectors remind consumers that there is no legitimate sweepstakes or lottery that will ever ask for money up front.

VIDEO: Watch the TV report

KTIV, WKYT, Lottery Post Staff

Comments

atoz

Quote: Originally posted by hearsetrax on Jul 15, 2014

he got what he deserved ........ hope he has many sleepless nights

Man you are a hard person with no compassion. You evidently had a bad childhood...... Yes it was stupid of what he did.  It sounds like he was an older person and sometimes some dont think as straight as they should.  More than likely he never played a lottery and knows nothing about it...only seeing maybe how publisher clearing house comes around to give someone a big winning amount.  I dont know the person but I do feel for him....exhausting all his monies....with the dream of being able to give to his grandkids and family.  Personally i didnt see anything funny about your sad song with the violin....

You just better hope you dont fall senile as time marches on and fall victim yourself.

helpmewin's avatarhelpmewin

Some StoryDrum

lottolaughs's avatarlottolaughs

Not again! Yeesh...when will people learn? Greed,greed,greed!

amber-r

So painful to read...

RedStang's avatarRedStang

Greed is powerful. Just read about a lady who lost money when told she won a Facebook lottery.

mypiemaster's avatarmypiemaster

Greed has an uncanny way of biting you in the ass.

Greg2117's avatarGreg2117

That's a shame. But he should have told them to f@#$ off and then change is number after. Nothing worse than people who harass you with phone calls.,

maringoman's avatarmaringoman

You can't sympathize with people who's identity get stolen and have their bank accounts emptied or credit card maxed and still have some sympathy left for greedy people like this man.

cbr$'s avatarcbr$

I  know this sort of thing, can be pull off far to easy here. This a bone dry state. Which has not progress over time. This is the deep south, bible belt country. There is no gambling here of any type in it the one and only casino here is in state capital Mobil, AL., Because it belong to the tribe of native American, Al. can't touch it. Nothing is allow here, everything has a ban on it. It a control freak , state. If it fun it a sin, let them tell it. I was born in Il., live there most of my life, enjoy gambling, playing the lottery etc., Here I taking a five hour or more road trip to purchase all the lottery tickets for people here. AL. don't approve of any gambling, but it definitely has it hand out when you win in a another state. If you truly believe it sin, to gamble, why would you want a penny of the winning?

helpmewin's avatarhelpmewin

Quote: Originally posted by Greg2117 on Jul 15, 2014

That's a shame. But he should have told them to f@#$ off and then change is number after. Nothing worse than people who harass you with phone calls.,

Green laugh

HaveABall's avatarHaveABall

Thanks, cbr$, for reminding us that the lottery isn't offered in Alabama.  That is probably not because the Governor and other politicians believe it to be a sin though, lol.  Rather, it is because the average lottery playing adult is in the red $520/annually, each year they play. 

Anyhow, no offered lottery is probably why these successful con artists are purchasing the "Retirees" phone#, address, age, etc. list!!!  As the Postmaster pleaded in this article:  "Awareness and communication are key. If you get a call or mailing claiming you've won a lottery, talk to family and friends who are likely to steer you in the right direction.

"You may be the lifeline that can protect them from losing their retirement that they saved and worked all of their life for," says Mayhew [Postmaster].

I AM WILLING TO BECOME THAT LIFELINE.  I'm not ignorant to understanding how long it takes to amass $1M in retirement savings.  ... I'M EVEN WILLING TO BEGIN WARNING/INFORMING ALL AGES OF ADULTS BEFORE THEY MENTION THIS TOPIC.  EXCELLENT, EASY, CARING LOSS PREVENTION!

Stop Dupe Alert

Drenick1's avatarDrenick1

Unfortunately these type of scams will continue to play out. The thieves and crooks out there know full well that the United States is full of uninformed, gullible individuals who are ripe for their con games.

noise-gate

Quote: Originally posted by Drenick1 on Jul 15, 2014

Unfortunately these type of scams will continue to play out. The thieves and crooks out there know full well that the United States is full of uninformed, gullible individuals who are ripe for their con games.

All too true.

These stories have to be told because all to often greed supplants common sense. This is also a wake up call for future millionaires to pay heed and avoid Greed at all costs. Todd is doing a great service by educating the Lottery Post faithful...imho.

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