PEMBROKE PINES, Fla. — 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 overhear the conversation, approached and offered her assistance, police said.
The two convinced Suarez-Ospina that the lottery ticket was real and that she would have to sponsor the male suspect with $40,000 to win $78,000, according to police.
Suarez-Ospina then drove the two to her bank, Bank United at 17011 Miramar Pkwy, where she withdrew $40,000, police said.
After leaving the bank, the man pretended to be ill and when Suarez-Ospina stopped at a store to purchase medicine, both suspects fled from the area with the victim's money.
Suarez-Ospina was left with an envelope containing shredded paper, police said.
According to police, the scam is a common scenario referred to as the "pigeon drop," where the suspects work in pairs and befriend the unsuspecting citizen, the "pigeon," claiming to have either a large sum of money or a winning Lotto ticket.
Immigration status is the common reason used for not being able to claim the prize. As the first suspect is talking with the victim, the second suspect approaches and gets involved, police said.
One of the suspects will go to a phone and call a lawyer or a lottery official to further convince the victim. With the confirmation, the victim contributes money as well as the suspect by putting the money into a bag or envelope.
The victim is usually allowed to hold the bag, however a switch is made and the victim is left with a bag of blank or shredded paper.
Police are warning residents, especially if they are elderly, to be watchful of such schemes and not go with anyone promising lottery winnings.
Residents should report any fraud, scam, rip-off or suspicious activity to their local law enforcement agency.
Police said the Hispanic man is between 30 and 35 years old. He is approximately 5 feet 5 inches tall, weighs about 120 pounds and has brown hair. He was last seen wearing a beige shirt and black pants.
The Hispanic woman is between 25 and 30 years old. She is approximately 5 fee six inches, weighs 160 pounds and has brown hair.
Anyone with information regarding the incident is asked to contact the Pembroke Pines Police Department Detective Bureau at 954-431-2225 or call Crime Stoppers at 954-493-TIPS.
I've read about similar scams several times before in LP news.
Elderly NJ man victim of lottery scam
https://www.lotterypost.com/news/96427
Elderly Woman Loses $10,000 In Lottery Scam
https://www.lotterypost.com/news/84667
Woman loses $2,800 in lottery scam
https://www.lotterypost.com/news/82656
Any more in this country, every time someone asks for your money, it's likely they are trying to scam you.
I can't believe the bank just let her withdraw that much, just like that and all in cash??? Certainly someone at the bank would have at least asked why one would take out 40K in cash just like that...
Ouch! That got to hurt! I always tell my mom, when someone ask her for money, she has to tell them she has to contact her son! This hopefully will scare them off.
I agree. Check the Related Stories box above for more. Or so a Search for "Scam".
*sigh* It's unbelievable seeing the nerve of some people these days......scamming elderly people like that.
That is a terrible thing to happen to anyone! And right before Christmas!
I hope that "5 foot 5 inch 120 pounder" gets his butt kicked really good by someone soon!
Hopefully by his jailmates!
The worlds dummiest criminals, I think someone ask Todd to set-up
a section for them.
Proof again that if you are going to steal then you should steal billions. Because if you steal $40,000 they will come for you and you will need to have your own money to bail yourself out.
However if you steal $40,000,000,000 then they will send you bailout money and you can then spend time at a $5000 per day resort.
Seriously though the crooks probably are illegals in the first place. They violated the law to get here so why should the law stop them after they are already here?
Any bets that if they are caught they will just get deported?
I did.But I was talking about stupid criminals that got caught because of their greediness and stupidity.Storys like this where criminals take advantage of the elderly & the poor just break my heart.Anyone that would do this to an old woman,or man,deserves to be sentenced to hard time for a very long time!
THESE SCAMS SHOULD BE BROADCASTED DAILY ON THE NEWS FOR CITIZENS NATION WIDE TO SEE LIKE CHRIS HANSON{NBC} "TO CATCH A PREDATOR".HOPE THEY GET CAUGHT SOON
This guy would be lucky if all they did was kick his backside.
I dunno if I'd say "these days". This sort of thing has been going on for decades. Cons and snake oil salesmen are always looking for their next mark, case in point, Kevin Trudeau is still out there hocking over priced books and ripping people off when he should be in prison. He recently received another nice smack down from the FTC and is going to eventually spar us from seeing his face for three years. Only thing is he bought a ton of ad time so his terrible infomercials are still going to be airing for awhile. Then there's that Klee guy shilling "colon health products", you know at least Trudeau puts some effort to look less like a sleaze bag. But that guy (with his wonderful BS info) has that stereotypical look of someone you shouldn't buy things from. Anyway, my point is that these kind people are pretty much everywhere, on the streets, on TV, on the internet, in Congress and they all rely upon the same old tactics, you really gotta watch yourself and not just buy into what anyone says, even family, which I'm sure many of us have that one relative (or two) that you always need to keep an eye on when they're around.
It is none of their business. It is my money and no one has any right to question how much I take out. Especially if it is not earning interest. It must be nice to have $40,000 to withdraw on a whim.
I didn't realize you were a 72 year old woman named Aydee Suarez-Ospina.
I think the most interesting part of this story and these particular scams in general is that these people just picked this random woman at a grocery store, and she actualy had $40K available to withdraw!!! I mean, what are the chances of that ?? I suppose if she only had $10K to withdraw they would've taken that, but 40 large is one hell of a score! It's mind-numbing to think that you would just had over all that cash to complete stangers, even if you thought it was a legitimate winning ticket, who just instantly gets conned within a few hours like that ? I'm scared to get old now!! Although I've only got $132.14 in the bank at the moment...
-Curt Little Lotto King
I wish somebody would have the nerve to do a scam on me like this. I would make sure my baseball bat in the car would get in good use before calling the police.
These types of scams are only pulled on old folks with savings, save your money and when you get old maybe you'll have your chance.
Greed turns peoples brains into mush!
This story makes the case why state lotteries are a good thing. People may not agree with gambling, but if didn't have legal, regulated state lotteries, we would have more scams. At least the revenue raised by state lotteries benefits the residents of the state.
I can bet the teller asked her and she said it was a private matter. However, it's not the bank's business to stop any depositor from withdrawing money. Believe me, Bank United doesn't want anyone to take out one dime and the manager will talk to you if you start pulling all your money out, since they're #1 on the list of regional banks predicted to fail. So I'm sure a lot of nervous people are cashing out. Still, if it's your money, you can do anything you want with it.
I feel badly for this woman, but she committed a crime.
Anyone can claim a lottery prize. You don't have to be a U.S. Citizen. However, you do have to be in this country legally. If she was cashing a lottery ticket for an illegal alien (which is what she thought) she was breaking the law.
Sorry - didn't see this post. Yes, exactly. They have no right to question you but, as I wrote above, the teller usually asks if there is a problem. It's happened to me, but I've never walked into a bank and asked for $40,000 cash!
By the way, if she is in her 70s and has $40,000 in the bank, it doesn't mean she's rich. That's not a lot of money to have if you're retired.
Also, you are wrong about the money not earning interest. You don't know that. She could have had a liquid CD or a savings account with interest. Last time I checked their money market account was earning 3.5%.
Just want to add a note:
72 is not elderly to me.
I was making a point. It doesn't matter who you are, where, or age, no one can question your withdrawals.
I am not wrong, I never said she specifically did or didn't earn interest. I said that a bank has no right to question you if you withdraw money from an account, especially if it is not locked up in an interest bearing account. Then they can because you agreed to leave a certain amount in for a certain amount of time.
If a teller asked me if there was a problem, I would say well there will be if I don't get the moeny I want out. That is just their way of being nosy.
Yeah, good thing the bank teller at her bank, where the tellers probably know her if she's a regular, wasn't being nosy (we don't know if they said anything at all) in this case (notice how I said "this case"). They would have only saved this woman from losing $40,000 to this scam, but hey maybe she withdraws a large amount of money regularly so it wasn't a big deal, whatever. Maybe she deserved to lose it for falling for such an obvious scam.
Obviously, the scammers should be jailed, but the elderly woman is also guilty!
1. She was going to help an ILLEGAL immigrant collect money.
2. She no doubt expected some of the money for herself.
Greed and a disregard for the law, and we should feel sorry for her?
As for withdrawing money from the bank...
The last time I went to the bank and withdrew a large sum, they asked me why, and I told them I was going to Vegas.
They told me, "good luck."
The bank does not care how you use YOUR money, unless you tell them you are using it to hire a hitman.