September 11, 2010
Residents have reported receiving phone calls from individuals advising them that they had won large sums of money but in order to receive it, they first had to send various amounts of money to addresses in Jamaica and California. The elderly seem to be the main targets of this scam and intimidation and scare tactics are often used by the callers to get their victims to cooperate. Victims are sometimes contacted several times a day advising different people and places to send the money. The probability is that if you did not buy a ticket for sanctioned lottery, you probably did not win. This scam has been a major problem in Minnesota which has led their Public Safety Agency to combine investigative efforts with the Jamaican Police, resulting in numerous arrests in Jamaica. For more information, see the video below.
This is just one of many scams today. The best prevention is to not send or wire money to a person you do not know (see video below). Do not accept checks from anyone that wants you to keep an certain amount for your “efforts” and wire the balance back to them. For additional information, see the “Crime Prevention – Con Artists” section of this website as well as IC3 and FBI
