Foreign lottery schemes may be fleecing Americans out of as much as a billion dollars every year. The problem is so vast, congress is hearing testimony on the matter.
Often suspects are overseas, and that's a challenge for law enforcement. But here's a case where a perceptive postal employee helped bring a suspect to justice right here in the United States.
"Something is not right here. Why are you getting all these Express Mail packages from all over the US?"
Mary Santiago asked the right questions. She knows her customers and suspected one was running a mail fraud scheme based here in the U.S.
"I said, 'I don't know what is going on, but she is getting Express mail from all over and it's usually once a week. It will stop, it will start up again. Something is not right here.'"
Postal inspectors began tracking the Express Mail labels the suspect was signing and found a pattern.
Here's how the lottery scheme works:
Victims get mail containing fake checks or a letter saying they hit a jackpot. To collect their winnings, they're told to pay a fee, tax or other expense. The elderly are a prime target.
"They are preying on people who don't know any better so they can take advantage of them and use them as a pawn in their game," said Louis Diaz, U.S. Postal Inspector.
A sting was set up. The suspect was told she had a new package to pick up. She came in and was caught.
"I don't know how anyone could do that to someone, people lose their houses, they take out second mortgages, I feel good that we caught her," said Santiago.
Inspectors say you should check to make sure your elderly family members aren't lured into a similar scheme.
"These people worked hard for their money as they get into their elder years, we have to keep an eye on those most vulnerable," said Joseph Bunaskavich, U.S. Postal Inspector.
Postal inspectors were able to return some money to the victims of this mail fraud scheme.
It's worth repeating: no legitimate lottery will ask you for money up-front.
Keep this in mind if you get letters or phone calls, and especially emphasize the message to elderly friends, family and neighbors.
The people that pull these kinds of scams are without shame and should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
Maybe we should take away all the suspect's parents money (if any) and distribute it among the victims.
I've seen news programs on these type of lottery scams. The elderly gets scammed of their life savings, and it's just horrible! They target the elderly and sometimes the elderly lose everything like their homes. They sometimes even get threats from these thieves. The scammers call on the phone and threaten to hurt people unless they get paid. This is just criminal and disgusting that they prey on the elderly.
I think they taget the elderly because many of them are too trusting and have money saved up. I'm glad this postal worker caught one of them, but the problem is a really huge epidemic. It's hard to investigate and arrest them because many scammers are in foreign countries.
Good on the postal workers for keeping an eye out on these suspicious people and helping some of the victims get some of their money back.
Heads up for this Postal Worker, they saw something and said something. Kudos to you for stopping this from hapenning to this U.S. Citizen.
>Michael
"I don't know how anyone could do that to someone, people lose their houses, they take out second mortgages..."
Congress fleeces people all the time. Now they are trying to steal money every month on peoples electric bills.
Steal and squander...probably learned by observing congress I bet.
by stander intervention at it's best. glad to see there are people who don't just see something wrong and look the other way.
one scam down, many to go
Good police Postal work. Like most scams, the punishment is not enough to prevent them from trying again.
We all know the drill, right? Do not send money to win money.
Good going postal worker !
Good job Ms. Mary Santiago
Well Done Postal worker Santiago
Yeah, these people are despicable, aren't they? They remind me of those websites that get people to send them fees every month for special access to worthless information. They convince people, sometimes as many as 800 of them, that sending these monthly fees will improve their chances of winning lottery prizes.
Wow i don't never get any mail how you get on the mailing List
Just send them some money and they will add you.
Wow, finally a post that jockeyed Jammy into breaking his silence. I like to pay for winning numbers.
We knew you were here the whole time using an alias profile Jammy. Don't be embarrassed.
If this article doesn't take the cake! A postal worker busting a scam! What about the scam of the postal service that is busted itself living off the tax payer like crysler and chevy?
The postal worker should get a reward. It's good that they were able to catch the villain for this scam. A lot of people suffer because of scams. The players should be very careful so they will not be a victim of scam. I hope there will be a wide information dissemination about this scam so people will become knowledgeable about it.