Not many people would send almost $2,000 to a person who called them on the phone out of the blue one day and said they were a winner in a lottery that they had never even entered, but one Tullahoma man says he did.
Afterward, when it appeared he'd been the victim of a scam, he filed a complaint with police.
The 63-year-old man told Public Services Officer Sherry Beck that a woman who identified herself as being with the U.S. Treasury Customs Department called his home Tuesday and said he had won $215,000 in the North American Lottery.
The man was instructed to send $1,900 to cover duties and delivery of a bonded check and given two telephone numbers, a Canadian phone number and a toll free 800 number, he said.
After sending the money, he tried calling both phone numbers, finally getting through to the U.S. Treasury Customs Department through the 800 number, where he was told that the woman was likely involved in a scam, that she was not an employee there, and that no one in the department had ever heard of her.
When police officers asked the alleged victim if he had purchased any tickets in the North American Lottery, he said he had not.
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