Hollister
– Two con artists bilked a Hollister woman they met in a grocery
store parking lot out of $15,000 with a lottery scam Tuesday
afternoon.
Hollister – Two con artists bilked a Hollister woman they met in a grocery store parking lot out of $15,000 with a lottery scam Tuesday afternoon.
Police would not release the name of the 54-year-old woman.
The victim was duped into giving the two men the cash by their promise to share part of a $280,000 Super Lotto prize with her, said Officer Rosie Betanio, a spokeswoman for the Hollister Police Department. The men said they needed the money in order to redeem the winning lottery ticket.
Kathy Johnston, a public information officer for the California Lottery, said the scam sounded familiar and unfortunately happens often.
“We do call it the Good Samaritan scam because it happens to people who are trying to help,” Johnston said.
Authorities said two Spanish-speaking men – a skinny, 5-foot-3-inch blond man in his 40s who said he was from Costa Rica, and a heavyset, 5-foot-8-inch Hispanic man in his 60s – approached the woman in the Nob Hill grocery store parking lot at about 2pm Tuesday, police said.
The men told the woman they needed $15,000 in “backup” money in order to claim the lottery prize, Betanio said. They told her that if she would loan them the money to claim the prize, they would return her $15,000 and give her an additional $7,000 from their winnings.
After the men called a third person, who told the victim that the ticket was valid, the woman agreed, Betanio said.
The woman and the older man then drove to Bank of America, where she made a cash withdrawal of $12,500, and then to Washington Mutual, where she withdrew another $2,500. After taking the money out of her accounts at the two banks, the woman turned the cash over to the man.
After they returned to Nob Hill, the man claiming to be from Costa Rica asked the woman if she would go into the store and buy him some medication, Betanio said.
When the woman came out of the store, the two men had vanished – along with her $15,000, officers said.
The victim drove home and called the Hollister Police Department at 3:13pm, police said.
Police said there is an easy way to avoid this particular scam.
“Don’t trust strangers in parking lots,” Betanio said. “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.”
Johnston said people should know how lottery prizes work.
To claim a prize less than $600, the ticket holder can go to any lottery retail location. If the ticket is worth more than $600, the holder must visit a lottery district office.
No money is required upfront to claim a prize, Johnston said. Any taxes or other debts, such as child support, are taken directly out of the winnings.
“If more people knew that, this wouldn’t happen,” Johnston said.
Michael Van Cassell covers public safety for the Free Lance. He can be reached at 831-637-5566 ext. 335 or mv*********@fr***********.com.
