The Lottery Scam That Almost Turned Deadly, Part 2
The Perfect Scam
AARP
4.5 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 2 August 2019
⏱️ 25 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In a Texas suburb, a typical lottery scam has turned into something much more sinister. A scammer has promised a retired couple a fictitious lottery payout if they continue to send him money for fees and taxes. With their life savings gone, the victims are forced to sell their home. But the swindler isn't done with them yet, as his constant calls have created a bond between him and the 70-year-old woman, who may be suffering from dementia. He realizes that she has grown fond of him and pivots from a lottery to a romance scam. He promises her a beautiful life together on the sandy beaches of Jamaica, where he's based. The con man tells her that all he needs is money in order to start building an oceanfront dream home that they can share. To come up with the funds, he proposes a disturbing plan. He demands that she kill her husband and flee to Jamaica with the proceeds of their home sale.
The U.S. Postal Inspection Service, which has been monitoring a trail of cash making its way from the U.S. to the scammer in Jamaica, discovers the couple in Texas and sends an agent to their home. When the agent arrives, little does he know he's about to walk into a murder plot.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Coming up on AARP of the Perfect Scamp. |
| 0:03.0 | We're directing her to murder her husband, cash that $30,000 cash year's check, and hop on the |
| 0:08.8 | first plane from Austin to Jamaica that she could get and they would be able to live happily ever after in the |
| 0:14.0 | beach house that he had built for. |
| 0:18.8 | Welcome back to AARP The Perfect Scam. |
| 0:21.0 | I'm here once again this week with AARP Fraud Watch Network |
| 0:24.3 | impasse to Frank Abignale Frank we are here for part two of the story about a |
| 0:28.5 | Jamaican lottery scam that turns into a romance scam. |
| 0:31.1 | Glad to be here. Thanks. |
| 0:33.0 | So Frank, we talked about this couple in their 70s who are targeted by scammers. |
| 0:38.4 | The origin of the scam is in Jamaica. |
| 0:40.8 | We talked about why scams are an issue there and why the United States is in fact looking very closely at them. |
| 0:48.0 | Have you dealt with scams originating from Jamaica? |
| 0:52.0 | Many, many scams come out of Jamaica, |
| 0:55.0 | mainly because the telecommunications systems there, |
| 0:58.0 | the way the government is structured there. |
| 1:00.0 | And of course, scammers that do these things |
| 1:02.0 | from overseas, like places like Nigeria or Jamaica. |
| 1:05.6 | It's very, very difficult to get those individuals even though you know who they are. |
| 1:09.8 | And of course, law enforcement agencies aren't really interested in one guy. |
| 1:13.6 | They're trying to get as many people as they can. |
| 1:15.8 | So there's a lot of investigation and time that goes into that. |
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