Woman loses $12k in lottery scam

[Liberal_in_LA]

Woman loses $12k in lottery scam


10:00 PM PDT on Monday, April 6, 2009

http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_S_webontario06.27409fb.html

Two swindlers in their 50s scammed a 61-year-old Ontario woman out of $12,000, using a sob story about a death in the family and a winning lottery ticket, say Ontario police who fear there may be other victims.

The victim encountered the couple Friday in a shopping center parking lot along the 1900 block of East Fourth Street. The woman was crying hysterically, saying her mother had died and that she needed help to return to Costa Rica to make funeral arrangements, Sgt. David McBride said in a written statement.

Claiming that they are illegal immigrants and speaking only in Spanish, the couple persuaded the victim to drive them a law office in Rancho Cucamonga. Along the way, the statement says, the couple claimed they'd recently won $12,000 in the California lottery, but needed $12,000 in hand to collect the winnings, which they said they'd need to pay for the funeral.

Feeling sorry for the couple, the victim withdrew $12,000 from her bank account. :eyes: :eyes: :eyes: But as they drove from the bank toward the law office, the female swindler faked violent sickness and the victim was asked to buy some medicine at a drug store.

The victim left the $12,000 inside the car while she went into the drug store.:eyes: :eyes: :eyes: The cash and the couple were gone when she returned. Anyone with information may call Ontario police at 909-395-2001.

[Skittles]

1. shoud say, "Idiot loses $12k in lottery scam"

[Liberal_in_LA]

4. Reminds me of the Nigerian scams. Last night on MSNBC they showed a Nigerian music video:

Song went something like "I am the winner, you are the loser, Americans I have your money".... lol.

[liberalhistorian]

2. I'm sorry, I know how heartless and insensitive this is

going to sound, but I'm really having difficulty working up much sympathy for this woman. It's pretty stupid to take that kind of money out of a bank and entrust it to people you don't even know at all (in leaving the car for the store), and there were red flags from the beginning, especially the ridiculous "lottery" story. Sorry, but the stupid is on her.

[Liberal_in_LA]

I've thrown a few bucks at a sob story. Give 'em $20 not 12K

And funerals in that part of the world don't cost 12K!!!!

[virgogal]

3. Will people EVER learn????

[csziggy]

7. "There is a sucker born every minute!" is a 140 year old quote and it's still true

And I always thought Barnum said that, but he did not. It was a competitor, David Hannum, who said it.
http://www.historybuff.com/library/refbarnum.html

[TheCowsCameHome]

5. ....so how did the funeral go?.............

[malaise]

6. She's lucky they didn't kill her and steal her car

People are so gullible.

[Liberal_in_LA]

8. There is nothing this woman would have done if asked. If they said "take me to your home"

She would have done it.

[rollingrock]

9. And these people were complete strangers to her?

would have been understandable if it were a friend or relative, otherwise this woman is off her rocker. btw it took place in Ontario, California.

[Name removed]

10. Deleted message

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[Mari333]

11. geezus

dont blame this on the woman being 61. I am 58 and I am not THAT dumb. we are not demented just because we are over 55. believe me. This woman may have learned the most valuable lesson of her life.

[acmavm]

12. It's not age. It's greed. The woman wasn't even thinking, she was

seeing dollar signs.

No one gives 12 thousand away to total strangers unless they expect to cash in.

[Mari333]

13. I know, I was just reminding the younger folks

that being over 60 doesnt necessarily equate to dementia. she was greedy, and it reminds me of people I have read about who fall for the Nigerian scams.

[acmavm]

15. I don't know whether I find these stories tragic or funny. I mean, how

crazy do you have to be to give strangers 12,000 dollars? Or lonely? Or gullible? But most of all GREEDY.

Hey, I know about the age thing. Since my strokes, that's what I blame all my lapses on. But let me tell you, and this is the honest truth, I was NEVER this frigging stupid, even in my most 'let it all hang out' days. (I AM a child of the 60s, early 70s.)

[Mari333]

16. I told my mom, who is 82

to call me and run ALL of her financial transactions past me..she isnt in dementia, but she IS naieve. she falls for things easily. ANYone could talk her into anything. I have seen her do this. so far she has called me to run everything past me, from life insurance scammers to her own church scamming her. yes, a combination of naievete' and lack of worldly experience.
hugs.

[acmavm]

17. She would even fall for something like this? I guess I'm judging by

my own mom who didn't trust anything without rock-solid proof. Except for one thing, and that was the bush** admin. He support of those bastards just wrecked the last years we had together (she died 2/18). I was really freaked out. As cynical as she was, she still believed everything that came out of Chimpy's mouth.

Later!

[acmavm]

18. DUPE

Sorry

[Toucano]

14. On the surface this is pathetic, but it doesn't smell right either. n-t