Lottery scam victim lost life savings

Nov 7, 2015, 8:14 am (54 comments)

Scam Alert

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A Jacksonville, Florida, man said he thought he was helping another man retrieve thousands in lottery winnings, but instead that man took $32,000 of the victim's money and left.

"Now I can't trust anybody. I can't trust nobody now," the victim said. "This changes my way of life."

The victim, who is not being named, said he now wants to make sure no one else falls victim to the same scam he did.

The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office released a picture of the suspect that was captured in a Home Depot in Arlington.

That's where the man approached the victim, saying he had a winning lottery ticket and needed $40,000 to collect the total winnings.

The victim said he thought the man was desperate, so he offered his savings of $32,000. Another man — believed by police to be a second suspect — offered his savings of $8,000, according to JSO.

The victim said he's a Christian and thought he was helping someone in need when he handed over his life savings.

"He came to me very like sad and asking me for a favor, and he said, 'Tu hablas Espanol?' and I said, 'Yes, I do speak Spanish,'" the victim said.

The victim said the man also started talking with another man in the store, telling them he needed help getting papers. When they asked him why, the man told them both he had a winning lottery ticket, but didn't know how much it was worth.

The victim said the other man got on the phone to find out, and said this when he hung up:

"There is a problem because we need money to claim this ticket."

The victim said he didn't know nothing about it and then the other man offered $8,000 in cash but said that wouldn't be enough.

"He said, 'We have to help this guy, because this is a lot of money in this lottery, but do you have some money in your house? Savings in your house?'" the victim said. "That was my mistake, my error, because I told him it's my savings for all my life."

He said he decided to give the man $32,000, after being promised to receive $40,000 for his help.

The three men drove to the victim's house, where he picked up the money and gave it to the suspect. From there they went to a CVS to get paperwork and stamps the victim said he needed to claim his lottery winnings.

Then the man said he was sick and needed medicine and asked the victim to go inside a Family Dollar and get it.

"In that time, I came out, the car, it was gone, that's the time that I did realize. I couldn't believe it," the victim said.

Crime and safety analyst Gil Smith said the first red flag was someone saying he needed money to collect lottery winnings.

"Now for a legitimate lottery, you don't need any money there," Smith said. "You don't need to have money in order to collect winnings from the lottery."

It was a hard lesson for a man who said he was just trying to help. 

Anyone with information in regards to the alleged scammer's identity or whereabouts is asked to contact the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office at 904-630-0500 or email the department atJSOCrimeTips@jaxsheriff.org. JSO said to remain anonymous and receive a possible reward up to $3,000, call Crime Stoppers at 866-845-TIPS.

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Comments

Bleudog101

All that money laying around the house??  Wonder how old the victim is?

Raven62's avatarRaven62

Defrauded by a confidence man with the promise of a $8,000 windfall!

Erzulieredeyes's avatarErzulieredeyes

I wish these articles would stop calling these people victims because they're not. Victims are usually forced into doing Something they don't want to do. Nobody forced him into anything. These people had control over what they were doing when they willfully gave their $$ away. I don't know people with that kind of $ that gives it away without doing research about the person they are giving it to and usually avoid doing personal business transactions with strangers. Only time I got scammed was on informercials but at least I got my $.back minus shipping fees lol.

 

And people are born with common sense so I dont know why they didn't use it other than to be greedy and dreamy.

Erzulieredeyes's avatarErzulieredeyes

Handing over your life savings because you thought u were helping out a Christian? Lol. Yea ok..... Where can I find these kind of generous idiots to help me out?  I would love to accept someone's life savings. Anyone here feel like giving away their life savings????

Please get in touch with me asap!

Erzulieredeyes's avatarErzulieredeyes

Quote: Originally posted by Bleudog101 on Nov 7, 2015

All that money laying around the house??  Wonder how old the victim is?

He is not a victim, he is a fool!

SoleWinner21

Sweet Jesus. How can people still be this stupid, gullible, and naive in this day and age. Don't they listen to the news to know what goes on in the world

Todd's avatarTodd

Quote: Originally posted by SoleWinner21 on Nov 7, 2015

Sweet Jesus. How can people still be this stupid, gullible, and naive in this day and age. Don't they listen to the news to know what goes on in the world

If everyone was a Lottery Post reader, this would never be an issue.  But alas...

Deo-nonfortuna

There's a sucker born in every minute - PT Barnum

realtorjim

Quote: Originally posted by Erzulieredeyes on Nov 7, 2015

I wish these articles would stop calling these people victims because they're not. Victims are usually forced into doing Something they don't want to do. Nobody forced him into anything. These people had control over what they were doing when they willfully gave their $$ away. I don't know people with that kind of $ that gives it away without doing research about the person they are giving it to and usually avoid doing personal business transactions with strangers. Only time I got scammed was on informercials but at least I got my $.back minus shipping fees lol.

 

And people are born with common sense so I dont know why they didn't use it other than to be greedy and dreamy.

Definition of a victim, per Merriam-Webster:

 

a person who has been attacked, injured, robbed, or killed by someone else

: a person who is cheated or fooled by someone else

: someone or something that is harmed by an unpleasant event (such as an illness or accident)

 

Though the term victim often is associated with the first degree of distinction, as the second statement indicates, force is not  a requirement to be a victim.   So, indeed they ARE victims.

I agree, common sense would prevent such events, however it does not displace the facts of someone being cheated or fooled by someone else, making them a victim.

a
haymaker's avatarhaymaker

What's old is new and vice-versa.

This sounds like a version of the pigeon drop scheme.

Back in the 70s I lived near 5th & Olney, a shopping district in Philly.

The scammers there did something called "the pigeon drop scheme"

 

In the scheme there's always a 3rd party ( the guy w/the $8G ) willing to help but doesn't have enough,

he also appears to not know the other scammer.

This tricks the victim into thinking, that if he trusts the guy w/ the problem, w/ his money, then it must be OK.

 

In the pigeon drop all 3 go to the bank where the scammers pretend to deposit the money,

telling the victim it will be safe there and giving him a fake receipt.

Really they bought a small money order or something to make it look like a real transaction.

This happened quite frequently and they never ran out of victims and were never caught.

There are many variations.

MaximumMillions

Tuff tties.

noise-gate

Sad as this is: This has everything to do with GREED.The victim has no one but himself to blame for his lack of vision.

*  Wow, this poor guy wins the Lottery and can't cash his ticket, well hey l am a Christian, l have cash laying around the house.." unused "  l know how l can come out ahead in a major way...hmm, what l will do is " help this guy out" by giving him my hard earned cash while l collect these Millions off him! -GREED! !

Raven62's avatarRaven62

Quote: Originally posted by realtorjim on Nov 7, 2015

Definition of a victim, per Merriam-Webster:

 

a person who has been attacked, injured, robbed, or killed by someone else

: a person who is cheated or fooled by someone else

: someone or something that is harmed by an unpleasant event (such as an illness or accident)

 

Though the term victim often is associated with the first degree of distinction, as the second statement indicates, force is not  a requirement to be a victim.   So, indeed they ARE victims.

I agree, common sense would prevent such events, however it does not displace the facts of someone being cheated or fooled by someone else, making them a victim.

a

Fraud is the most prevalent crime in America!

travelintrucker's avatartravelintrucker

"he had a winning lottery ticket and needed $40,000 to collect the total winnings." That rose a red flag for me. I could understand if the guy said I'm out of gas and I can't reach the lottery retailer to collect my winnings. I don't want my family to find out because their all money grubbers. Me, if a guy approached me like that. I would've wanted to fully research the winning ticket. I ran into a paraplegic the other day at a truck stop. He needed money for gas. The problem was, his legs were amputated from the knee caps. I was like, "how do you need gas money and you can't even reach the gas pedals?" He said, "Oh, it's for my friend who is at the pump." I was thinking, well, why isn't he over here asking for gas money. I just walked off.

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