Florida couple duped by lottery scammers

Aug 16, 2015, 11:29 am (38 comments)

Scam Alert

COLLIER COUNTY, FL — The Collier County Sheriff's Office is warning residents about a popular lottery scam. 

An elderly Golden Gate, Florida, couple told deputies they were swindled out of a large amount of cash Thursday by two people who promised to share lottery winnings with them.

A 76-year-old man and his 92-year-old wife said they were at the Grand Buffet restaurant on US-41 in East Naples when two men approached them.  The men claimed to have won $500,000 in the lottery.

The men said they couldn't cash the ticket because they didn't have legal citizenship status.  They asked the elderly couple for cash in exchange for the ticket, and the couple agreed. 

The couple rode with the men to two different banks to withdraw large amounts of cash — which the couple placed in an envelope.

One man complained of stomach pain and asked the couple to go inside the K-Mart located on Golden Gate Parkway to buy him medication. 

When the couple came out of the store, the men were gone.  The couple also discovered that, at some point, the men had emptied the cash from the envelope. 

One of the suspects was described as a Hispanic male in his late 20s. He was 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighed around 180 pounds.  He also had black hair and brown eyes. 

The other suspect was described as a Hispanic male about 35 years old.  He was around 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighed around 160 pounds.  He also had brown hair and brown eyes. 

Their vehicle was described as possibly a gray Nissan sedan. 

The Collier County Sheriff's Office wants to remind the public that immigration status does not prevent anyone from cashing a Florida Lottery ticket.  In addition, any taxes due are deducted from the winnings. 

Anyone with information should call the Collier County Sheriff's Office at 239-252-9300, or if you wish to remain anonymous call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-780-TIPS (8477).

NBC2

Comments

Drenick1's avatarDrenick1

Scammers will continue to pray on the old and uninformed. Warnings can only do so much before greed takes over.

music*'s avatarmusic*

 There could be a little greed in all of us. 

 If it sounds to good to be true then it is too good to be true. Be alert.

 When you win big at the Lottery you can only trust a few friends. The others hate you because they think that they deserve the money more then you do. 

 Go and visit any prison here in the US and you will see why you cannot trust strangers. 

 God Bless Christians who work in prisons and visit the inmates.  No Pity!

maringoman's avatarmaringoman

Quote: Originally posted by Drenick1 on Aug 16, 2015

Scammers will continue to pray on the old and uninformed. Warnings can only do so much before greed takes over.

Greed and being uninformed is a lethal combo. They're lucky they lived to tell.

MzDuffleBaglady's avatarMzDuffleBaglady

Always check on your elderly loved ones.

I know they still fight for their independence, but, "please do check on them".

My aunt is 88 and she ordered a Ipad, to do her banking?

I was like, OMG, OMG, No!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My big sister is taking her to the Apple store, for class.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

These guys are all around, I was at my local quick trip, and this guy pulled up beside me, and start explaining he could fix the dent in my car?

His car was older than mine, and in worse shape, lmaooooooooooooooooooooo, he also had a child and a young woman with him?

But, you want to repair a dent in my car?

I don't think so, lmaooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

I was at another gas station , lol

I was in line, turned around to leave, it was 2 young guys behind me, one said, "Do you have a quarter"?

I said, "FOR WHAT"? lmaooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo, he waited a few minutes, then said, taxes, lmaoooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

I said, "I need this quarter and another one to make a 50 cent bet to win $50.00", lmaoooooooooooooooooo.

 

 

 

 

 

Shame .

Gleno's avatarGleno

Sad sorry to read this news about gullible folks who were swindled by these parasites from out of nowhere.

No No

hearsetrax's avatarhearsetrax

MeAndMyArrow

Something just doesn't add up here.

I mean, how naive do you have to be to believe that yarn? For one thing, I don't know of any restriction on non-citizens cashing lottery tickets, outside of the possibility that they might have to pay higher taxes or duties on the winnings than a citizen would. And if you are helping someone to evade (not avoid*) taxes for a fee, I am fairly certain that you are committing a felony by doing so.

I'm looking at the difference in age between the husband and wife (he's 76, she's 92), and I'm starting to wonder if he's a retired gigolo who is still working his 'trick.' In other words, I wonder if the wife was the one with all the money, and if the husband was somehow in on it. Maybe she would normally not fall for such a scam on her own, but with her husband sitting next to her telling her to "go for it" ...

 

*Note:

"Avoiding taxes" means finding legal ways to lower your tax bill; that's what tax accountants and lawyers are paid for. Contrast that with "evading taxes," which refers to illegal ways of not paying taxes, such as cooking the books in your business, or running a scam where you cash so-called "IRS signer" tickets at the horse track on behalf of other winners in high tax brackets for a commission.

picktowin's avatarpicktowin

What's the difference in age ? At least they are married. Regardless u don't take advantage of anyone. Respect your elders.

noise-gate

These elderly or less savvy people need to learn to say..... "No."

" Can you wait a minute while l use my cell phone to ask my son for advice, his a  policeman!" 

HoLeeKau's avatarHoLeeKau

Aren't you old enough to know better?  Dope Slap animated emoticon

Teddi's avatarTeddi

I know everyone wants to feel sorry for the poor elderly couple that got swindled, but I have a sneaking suspicion that they weren't helping purely out of the kindness of their hearts. Even if they didn't know that non-residents can claim a lottery win, they still had to have known that claiming they bought the ticket and that it was their winnings is wrong. Sounds to me as if they, just like the crooks, were looking to make a quick buck. To paraphrase Matchstick Men, the money wasn't stolen, it was given away.

Candy-Lane's avatarCandy-Lane

Quote: Originally posted by Teddi on Aug 16, 2015

I know everyone wants to feel sorry for the poor elderly couple that got swindled, but I have a sneaking suspicion that they weren't helping purely out of the kindness of their hearts. Even if they didn't know that non-residents can claim a lottery win, they still had to have known that claiming they bought the ticket and that it was their winnings is wrong. Sounds to me as if they, just like the crooks, were looking to make a quick buck. To paraphrase Matchstick Men, the money wasn't stolen, it was given away.

I think Teddi is spot on!

lottolaughs's avatarlottolaughs

"The couple rode with the men to two different banks to withdraw large amounts of cash.." WOW. Kerrazy. Greed, baby, nothin' buy greed. Somehow I just can't feel sorry for these people any longer.

myturn's avatarmyturn

I feel for the elderly couple. However, it they hadn't succumbed to greed and stupidity, they wouldn't have been scammed.

 

If something looks to good to be true, it usually is!

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