​Victims in these cases are normally Hispanic and the suspects are male and female Hispanics. The suspects normally speak only Spanish while playing this offense.

The first suspect, who claims to be looking for an attorney, approaches the victim on the street. The suspect goes on to say that he has a winning lottery ticket but is afraid to cash it as he is in the country illegally. The second suspect joins the scenario, and the story is told again. The first suspect either offers to pay the two a substantial amount of money or sell them the winning ticket at a great discount for assistance in cashing the ticket. Once the victim agrees to help, the suspect claims to want proof that they know how to handle money or needs currency to purchase or redeem the ticket and induces the victim to withdraw several thousand dollars. Once the money is withdrawn it is taken from the victim either in a switch or, more frequently, by sending the victim into a drug store and driving off. In this scenario, one of the suspects feigns sickness throughout the offense and pretends to be very ill when the victim returns from the bank. The victim is sent into the drug store for medicine and the suspects drive off.

Lotto scams targeting seniors

By Robert Taylor, BTI Global

Financial scams against our seniors
Financial Scams target our seniors with a huge impact on their savings, which in most cases is a fixed income. This affects the victims of these scams both mentally and physically.
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One of the most successful scams is the “LOTTO’ scam that has been targeting our seniors for years and which occur throughout the United States; and in most cases the same suspects and their families are traveling to commit these crimes.
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Why seniors are targets

• They do not work
• They are befriended very easily.
• Most of the time they do not have daily contact with their families.
• They are easy to trust people with a good story which is part of the scam.
• They are embarrassed to speak about the fact that they were scammed. This limits law enforcement in their response as well as the ability to link these cases across the country.
• They are lonely and easily befriended.

Elements of the crime:

• Targets are approached by someone in a parking lot, at an ATM, or while they are in line at a store.
• They appear to speak only Spanish; the fact is that most of them speak English.
• They specifically target seniors.
• They will accompany seniors to their homes or bank. If in the home, they have been known to distract the senior and take cash or jewelry.
• There is always more than one scammer, most of the time there are three to four.