The Spotsylvania Sheriff's Office is investigating an incident in which a woman in the Virginia county was bilked out of nearly $30,000 after being promised lottery riches, court records show.
According to an affidavit for a search warrant filed in Spotsylvania Circuit Court, the 68-year-old victim was at the Spotsylvania Towne Centre late last month when she was approached by two Hispanic women who asked her for a ride.
Det. William Lee wrote that the women told the victim that they had a winning $2 million lottery ticket but were unable to cash it because of their immigration status. They told the victim that they would give her $1 million if she helped them cash in the ticket.
The victim was told there was a $60,000 processing fee and was convinced by the con artists to withdraw half of the fee from her bank account.
Lee wrote that she went to two different Wells Fargo banks in Spotsylvania and withdrew a total of $29,000. She then drove the scam artists to a Bank of America in Central Park in Fredericksburg to supposedly withdraw their part of the processing fee.
The victim saw the women put what she believed to be their portion of the fee into a bag in the glove box of the victim's car. They then took the victim's cash and put it in the same bag.
They then asked the victim to stop at the CVS on Breezewood Drive in Spotsylvania to get drinks. The victim went into the store while the con artists waited outside.
Lee wrote that when the victim returned to her car, the women and all of the cash were gone. The victim had never seen the women prior to being approached at the mall.
Lee obtained search warrant for surveillance camera footage at the various banks. As of Monday, no arrests had been made.
Thanks to hearsetrax for the tip.
If you going to part with your savings to total strangers : Simply ask them to accompany you to the closest lottery convenience store, ask these stranger's to hand you the ticket & scan that puppy yourself.If it's a winner, ask the clerk to run that ticket to verify your findings .If these strangers refuse, simply walk away.End of story.
Why didn't she just offer to only take 940k from the winnings?
IF the processing fee was 60k nobody would play a lottery in which you can win 1 billion. What's the processing fee for that?
Criminals are ruining the lives of all of us. We must say NO to all requests. No to hitchhikers, No to beggars, No to con artists, No to everyone. Even say NO to children who may be doing the bidding of their parents.
We must be content with our family and the few close friends we have. Refer every request to the professional social workers.
This $30,000.00 is now being spent on illegal drugs and alcohol.
Being a tightwad in this day and age could save you from some grief.
Lottery Post members are well armed to defend themselves.
What is it that makes suckers & Elderly innocent people obvious prey? Is it the way they walk,gaze too long at watermelons or what? I once read that if you constantly looking up at tall buildings in NYC- you immediately identified as a tourist.Older person's need refresher courses on " How not to be taken advantage of."
Police just released this photo of the perp.
It is just the fact that they ARE elderly. Not all, but a lot of elderly are not in very good shape physically. This makes them able to be easily intimidated because they know they are not strong enough to resist or fight back.
Also, a lot but not all elderly, have begun to "slip" mentally. They are just not as sharp as they used to be. It is nothing they did. It is just part of the natural aging process which we all go through, and some people are more effected than others.
Refresher courses may not be all that much help, as sometimes (depending on their age) too much info all at once is just too much for them to take in or understand. A much better course of action would be to have them just say,"I need to check with my son or daughter first," or some other trusted relative or friend.
And finally, it is not just the elderly that fall victim to con artists. There are plenty of people who fall for various scams and cons on a daily basis whether they be telephone, email, or other Internet scams. Think of all the people who are victimized by bad investment advisers or Ponzi schemes.
She should have told them to just hang on while she called ICE.
Good to know sat any age;
http://defendyourself101.ca/reviews/hapkido-cane
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-C6pl4dvIk
State laws vary but in Illinois for example sine a cane has a rubber tip it is a medical device and not a weapon.
Not wise to tangle with someone who knows how to use one.
Let me see if I got this right Maximillions: Nicht Verstehe.
These stories sicken me; I wish there was a law on the books preventing folks from getting large sums of money @ once. Better yet, have the police show up and let them try to pull a fast one then.
sweet link ,CT
will have to remember this next time I'm in old town jejejeje
G, l get what you saying...But in this case, this Elderly person reasoned to herself, that she was going to come into a great deal more money in exchange for her paltry share. You dont drive to more than one bank to withdraw $30,000 in one day if you not "all there." Her greed got the better of her.She went into those banks by herself with a smile l gaurentee you, had the bank folk seen those crooks aiding her to withdraw money, that right there would have sent a tremor through the teller. I mention refresher courses to simply get the message out " Don't fall for it." This person was NOT a victim, she was a willing participant until things went South.
The bank tellers had to be suspicious of someone withdrawing that type of money....especially an older person. I bet the lady didn't tell the tellers why she was doing it otherwise they would have called the police and told her she was being scammed. There is more to this story, but I bet that the scam artists told the lady to lie to the tellers when they asked about why she was withdrawing that type of money and the lady went along with it.
I grew up in West Palm Beach, FL (god's waiting room). Most bank tellers ask a lot of questions when an elderly client starts trying to withdraw large sums of cash. Vanguard will freeze the person's account if they suspect fraud or elder abuse.
In any event, it looks like greed got the best of this lady. She is lucky she did not agree to pay the entire $60k processing fee.
So sad!!!
They then asked the victim to stop at the CVS on Breezewood Drive in Spotsylvania to get drinks. The victim went into the store while the con artists waited outside.
How does it go; "a fool and their money"?
"I bet the lady didn't tell the tellers why she was doing it otherwise they would have called the police and told her she was being scammed."
Do you always tell bank tellers why you're withdrawing money from your checking/savings account?
Unbeliveble:Ididn,t know people still fall for this one.
People still purchase Richard Lustig's manual that consists of 12 pages on ". How to Increase your chances of winning the lottery."
That is what l find abominable GP.
N-G,
I'm going to have to disagree. This mall where it initially began has 150+ stores, pretty good size, right? The con-women were on the hunt. I seriously doubt the victim was the first person they approached to ask for a ride. I also seriously doubt they brought up the issue of the lottery ticket before they were outside in the parking lot and in the victims car. Simply because there would too many other people around who could possibly over hear what was going on. They want privacy and remember, they're ganging up on her, it's two on one. She may be confused, scared. (Too much info all at once.)
Now if you were in the mall and two complete strangers approached you and asked for a ride, what would you say? No. Get lost. Something along those lines? Why? You would be suspicious... Why me? Why don't they call a friend, a cab, etc?
But this lady said okay. Which suggests a kind person and trustworthiness, and a willingness to help someone in need. Or maybe a certain gullibility. Then once they were in her car, the con began in earnest. Some cons can be very convincing. We've all read about the Jamaican scammers who rip off peoples entire savings by telling them they won X millions of dollars and they just need to pay a never ending processing fee to get their money. Well, same thing here. And who knows if they threatened her in any way. Like I said earlier, some one who's "slipping" can be easily manipulated.
Now the question is what would an elderly person do with such a large amount of money? They know they would probably not live long enough to spend it all. Most parents want their kids to do better than they did. So rather than doing it out of their own greed, they will do it for their kids and grandchildren. They want to surprise them and do something nice for them. Take care of them. And often when something bad does happen they are too embarrassed to say anything. They think,"How could I be so stupid?"
I don't know how old you and your parents are, but if you all are young, keep in mind this is something you may have took out for years from now. If you all are older, be watching out for it now. Every one thinks it can't happen to them, but unfortunately it does.
G- l welcome disagreement, it is what makes us different, Lord knows that l would be bored if the company l kept agreed with me on everything. Back to the page: l think you thinking too hard on this. All we know from the report is that she " willingly went into her banks to withdraw * $30,000", whether she was prepared to withdraw $60,000 is another thing altogether.What you missing is the fact that she was " promised millions" in return for her $30,000. It all starts and ends there.She was not doing this out of a kind heart, she was doing it to enrich herself in the process.
Ever had a panhandler ask you for $20:00? Would you give one a twenty,or would you consider that excessive? If so, why?See my point? Yet here we have total strangers approaching this female and after a conversation that last who knows how long,she drives to her bank to help them out? l think not.What was she thinking? l will tell you what she was thinking, it was this "l am going to get a ton of money that l know l could never have put away during my lifetime, l hit the jackpot baby." She got overcome by Greed, plain and simple.
Be well.
Me.
Why do you consider yourself stupid, what did you miss?
Due to the lack of common sense and naivety of these so called victims, this type of gig will continue
unless people decide to wise up.
So true, to which l will add the following l recently read.
Dr Matt Taylor has accomplished one of the greatest achievements in space history as part of the team which has landed a probe on a speeding comet. The ground-breaking Rosetta space mission may help to answer important questions about the origins of life on earth. The scientist is, according to his family, “brilliant”.And yet, despite landing a robot on a rock more than 300 million miles away from Earth, he is sometimes “useless” and lacking in “common sense”. On occasion he can’t even find his car in a car park, says his sister Maxine, 41.
14 Nov 2014
Actually, the last study done on this showed that the elderly were actually LESS likely to get conned than their younger counterparts even though they were more heavily targeted by con artists.
I believe that this 'victim' was both gullible and greedy. Had she been simply gullible, she'd have offered to drive them, but she wouldn't have handed over that amount of money to them. They offered to make her a millionaire in exchange for $30,000 and she jumped at the chance. That's greed.
Last year, this same con worked on a non-elderly person with the only difference being that he kept his cash in his safe at home because he didn't trust banks. So he drove two complete strangers to his home, where he took out tens of thousands of dollars from his safe. Then on the way to the lottery office, they stopped at a store to get drinks and while he was inside, the men disappeared with his money.
He wasn't old, senile or gullible.
These cons, where people are asked to pay taxes and/or processing fees to receive a windfall keep working because greed outweighs common sense. Many are smart and educated. Yet they keep forking over their money because they rationalize it being a small amount to pay for a big pay out. The dollar signs in their eyes blinds them to everything else.
I have no sympathy for these people.
This isn't about drugs and booze. Cons require clear thinking, a certain clean cut and trustworthy appearance and the ability to think on one's feet to allay whatever concerns a mark might have. Those people can't afford to be twitchy or jonesing for drugs in all the hours it takes to pull this off. For many, these cons are their source of income. All you need to do is watch one season of American Greed. Swindling is a relatively easy way to amass money without having to work ones way up a ladder to get it. They want to be able to live a certain lifestyle and conning people out of money is how they choose to do it. It isn't about getting high.
I will always help the homeless if I can. Whether it be with cash or food or groceries. There are way too many people on the street who are there because of circumstances outside their control. Many served this country and weren't able to get over the horrors of that experience when they came home. Nor were they properly assisted when it was clear they needed help. Way too many women are on the street because they had to flee a violent home life. Lots of people lost their savings, jobs and homes during the recession. Joblessness and subsequent homelessness wasn't a choice they made.
Since there but for the grace of God go I, I will not judge or condemn how they got there. Here's hoping I'll never be inured enough to say no to a child in need.