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Bank employee helps Oxnard woman escape lottery scam
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More from Breaking NewsAn Oxnard woman narrowly escaped losing money to a lottery scam Monday when a bank employee intervened, authorities said.
The 54-year-old woman was shopping in the Ross Department Store at 4687 Telephone Road in Ventura about 1:30 p.m. Monday when another woman about her age approached her and said she had a lottery ticket worth $39,000, according to a prepared statement from the Ventura Police Department.
The woman said she was an illegal immigrant and claimed she needed to bring $30,000 with her to cash the ticket because of her immigration status, police said. A second woman pretending to be a shopper said she had money to contribute.
Both women suggested they go to the victim's bank to withdraw $20,000 cash then split the $9,000 profit from the ticket. The Oxnard woman agreed.
At the victim's bank, an employee realized what was happening and called authorities, police said.
Officers responded to the bank, but they could not find the suspected scammers. The Oxnard woman did not lose any money in the incident.
No up-front money is required to redeem lottery tickets. Police encourage people to call authorities if anyone approaches them asking for cash in exchange for monetary returns.
Anyone with information about the incident can call Ventura police at 339-4343 or make an anonymous call to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS. Tipsters who give information that leads to an arrest could receive up to $1,000 cash.
Posted by Hueneme_girl29 on July 1, 2008 at 9:14 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Why the hell do people fall for this? Sheesh. It just blows my mind that you'd hand over 30K to a complete stranger.
Posted by Sneed_Hearn on July 1, 2008 at 9:21 a.m. (Suggest removal)
It's called "GREED"!
Posted by bill on July 1, 2008 at 9:21 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Nothing shows the stupidity of people like G-R-E-E-D!
Posted by BorderCrossedMe on July 1, 2008 at 9:22 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Shows again why you just can't trust anyone anymore. It's sad. Too many people out to scam others. I hope police catch these crooks.
Posted by hotwildflower on July 1, 2008 at 9:34 a.m. (Suggest removal)
how about a description of the scammer and I am sure the bank has a good picture of the person who went with her...this is a small community here in Ventura County, post the picture and someone will recognize them.
Posted by dse_kpa on July 1, 2008 at 9:45 a.m. (Suggest removal)
And if anyone told me they were an illegal immigrant I'd say, "Heeeyylls, no!"
Posted by VaLeNTiNo_ReD on July 1, 2008 at 9:52 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Doesnt the bank have surevlliance tapes?? Its amazing how people are willing to hand over $30,000 to strangers, but when homeless people ask for change, people are quick to say no, maybe they should start asking people for $30,000, they might just get it! ha!
Posted by mamaof2 on July 1, 2008 at 10:01 a.m. (Suggest removal)
There are alot of sweepstakes scammers out there. Once I received a check in the mail for almost $3000 saying I won a sweepstakes and this was my first ck for the processing fee, they said to deposit it into my bank and pay the fee through a money gram and whatever was left I could keep then they would send the $99,000 i won. The ck seemed legit but i didnt remember entering a sweepstakes and they said they were sponsered by the publishers clearing house. so i ckecked it out on the internet and found out they've been scamming people this way. the ck was a fake, if you cashed it the bank would give u the money then 2 weeks later it wouldnt go through and u would be responsible for the money and by that time u would have already sent the money away for the supposed "processing fee". glad i ckecked it out before i went to the bank.
Posted by prophet on July 1, 2008 at 10:05 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Hell to the NAW!!
Posted by iluvSP on July 1, 2008 at 10:06 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Crazy! Ignorance of some people is astounding! I bet if you did some sort of study, you'd find about 40% of people would fall for this, given the right environment you do the study in. WOW!
Posted by floydspinky71 on July 1, 2008 at 10:11 a.m. (Suggest removal)
You hear about this all the time. Does no one have any common sense anymore? These guys approached my 92-year-old grandmother and she brushed them off saying "You'll never take my money."
Until people come to terms with the fact that they can't get something for nothing, they deserve to get scammed.
Posted by lyn_uk1 on July 1, 2008 at 10:13 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Out of interest, what was the nationality of the person they approached?
Posted by mIssSIdekIck on July 1, 2008 at 10:15 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Wow!! So this was almost about to happen once again! Unbelievable, yes I dont think I would ever fall for something like this... wayy to good to be true, but luckly they Bank tellers were there to notice!
Posted by clementine on July 1, 2008 at 10:16 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Glad the teller at the bank intervened. Great job!!! Folks: Never give money to anyone approaching you -- or calling on the phone pretending to sell you something or asking for donations to a charity. JUST SAY NO!!!!
Posted by star on July 1, 2008 at 10:19 a.m. (Suggest removal)
"Shows again why you just can't trust anyone anymore."
This con is old, probably dates back to ancient Greece. People today aren't any different than they were twenty years ago or two hundred years ago.
Posted by caddieman805 on July 1, 2008 at 10:23 a.m. (Suggest removal)
how do people know that this old person has that kind of money?
Posted by lyn_uk1 on July 1, 2008 at 10:36 a.m. (Suggest removal)
The person wasnt old - 59 - but I know people who carry large amounts of money in their bags and are just trouble waiting to happen. People who scam or mug look for opportunities..they may have been watching the victim for a while. Sad, but true.
Posted by VaLeNTiNo_ReD on July 1, 2008 at 11:20 a.m. (Suggest removal)
OLD PEOPLE ALWAYS HAVE MONEY!! HHAHAHAHAHHA!!
Posted by Equitable_Enforcer on July 1, 2008 at 12:12 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Location: Ross Department Store, 4687 Telephone Rd., Ventura .
Date/Time Occurred: June 30, 2008, 1:30 p.m.
Officer(s) Involved: Ventura Police Officers.
Victim(s): Female, 54 years of age, Oxnrd resident.
Suspect(s): Two Hispanic Females, mid-fifties.
Report #: 08-9313.
Extracted from VPD's press release.
Posted by Just_wondering on July 1, 2008 at 12:18 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Thomas Tusser said "A fool and his money are soon parted" If people are stupid enought to fall for this scam, that is what they get. What I want to know is if they are so stupid, how is it that they have $20,000 laying around in the bank?
Posted by NightLight on July 1, 2008 at 12:20 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Thank goodness the teller was on the ball and kept the scam from happening.
Don't be so quick to throw around words like greed and stupidity where the near-victim is concerned. Without knowing her circumstances, maybe she was desperate for money in some way. Was it a wise decision? No, of course not. But save negative judgments for the criminals, not the victims. No one "deserves" to be scammed out of their money.
Posted by CatInAHat on July 1, 2008 at 12:49 p.m. (Suggest removal)
It's greed. The greedy become the needy and you can't cheat an honest person.
Posted by CatInAHat on July 1, 2008 at 12:49 p.m. (Suggest removal)
It's greed. The greedy become the needy and you can't cheat an honest person.
Posted by 805grl on July 1, 2008 at 12:57 p.m. (Suggest removal)
good job to the teller...
My friend was scammed for his car! He received a check from the "buyer" for the car he was selling, check was from out of state, for about 17K. My friend took the check to the bank and it was cashed, right then and there. My friend sent the car cross country to the "buyer" and by the time the car was out of his hands the teller who cashed the check for him called him asking him to pay the money back, asap or she was going to be fired! She confesed to him that she had made an error by not verifing the check prior to cashing it and actually it should have been held for verification!!! He now owed the money back to the bank, was out of a car and the money, he used it to pay the balance he owed on it!
Posted by cowchip on July 1, 2008 at 12:59 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Geez! If you're retarded enough to hand this amount of money to a stranger then you are too retarded to have that amount of money in the first place!
Posted by Just_wondering on July 1, 2008 at 1:54 p.m. (Suggest removal)
NightLight - I'm guessing if she had $20,000 to hand over, she wasn't desperate for money in some way
Posted by daugtherofimmigrant on July 1, 2008 at 2 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Does anyone watch Deal or no Deal? GREED!!! GREED!! GREED!! you have a safety net then because you feel you can make more money you risk it all! Then you end up with very little or nothing. This lady was being greedy, I don't feel bad for her at all. This is a very old scam.
But wait am I reading this wrong? Did the lady with the ticket say she needed to take 30k to the bank to cash a 39k ticket? Then the other two ladies were going to split 9,000? So what was the lady who supposedly won going to get out of this? She already had to take 30K to the bank in exchange for 39K?
Think, people think! Or wait you were to greedy to do that.
BTW since when do you cash a ticket at a bank?
Posted by slkrchck on July 1, 2008 at 2:16 p.m. (Suggest removal)
first of all..every lottery winner i've seen is illegal anyway. her argument shouldn't have held up. secondly, this is geting way too easy. where do i sign up? i need a summer job.
Posted by onapproach on July 1, 2008 at 2:34 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Personally, I think she deserved to lose it.
Posted by pjlove10 on July 1, 2008 at 3:12 p.m. (Suggest removal)
VaLeNTiNo_ReD, LMAO!!!!!!!!!!
"Old people always have money"
good one..
And I'm very happy that "old" 54yr old lady didn't lose her life savings.
Posted by AnMa on July 1, 2008 at 3:21 p.m. (Suggest removal)
"slkrchck first of all..every lottery winner i've seen is illegal anyway"
Funny, just cause you haven't won the Lottery you have to be a hater. Keep on hating.
Posted by lizlemon on July 1, 2008 at 3:35 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Old people at Ross dress for less... I guess those people are always looking for a bargain.
Posted by LivinInPoorMansPV on July 1, 2008 at 3:57 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I will tell you exactly why this happens, but some of you wont like it :(
It is called trust in only your own (race). Now why on earth would a lil old nice immigrant woman want to scam anyone of her own race?
In all my years I have never seen any race be so against trusting anyone but there own.
It is racism, and they brought it here, and they will NEVER let it die!
Makes me SICK!
Posted by whatever on July 1, 2008 at 4:13 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Ahhh the old illegal immigrant trick....tell me it isn't so!
Posted by BeaHappi on July 1, 2008 at 4:18 p.m. (Suggest removal)
<Digression>
What in the world will it take for Ross management to clean up those fitting rooms? Has anyone seen the filthy, torn curtains that cover the stalls?
For goodness sakes! Paint the walls and hang up some new shower curtains. It could be done in a day.
<You are now returned to your regular programming>
Posted by RachelK on July 1, 2008 at 5:32 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I think the bank teller deserves a reward.
Posted by ironwoman on July 1, 2008 at 6:17 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Good job to the employee for detecting this criminal act. As far as the victim, she should have known better.
Posted by sparks240 on July 1, 2008 at 8:06 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Where is that 54-year-old woman? I have some land in Florida she might be interested in. ;)
Posted by smithjc on July 1, 2008 at 8:57 p.m. (Suggest removal)
yep, there's one born every minute. good job on the part of the teller to recognize what was going on.
try that on me. tell me you can't cash your lottery ticket because you're here illegally. all aboard! next stop, the ICE office.
Posted by CatInAHat on July 1, 2008 at 9:17 p.m. (Suggest removal)
This is a racial crime? OK I wish some old white guys would pull this on me. I could turn it around on them and try and sell them my future beach front property in Barstow.
Posted by daugtherofimmigrant on July 2, 2008 at 11 a.m. (Suggest removal)
slkrchk - "every lottery winner is illegal anyway" Are you serious? Name 3? Wait, illegal as in not from this country?
I could remember one, and I think it was the very first lottery winner ever, or the 1 million dollar winner spinning the wheel, anyway they wanted to take it ($) away, I was pretty young so I don't quite remember the whole story, but I think that was it.
Man if I were illegal the first thing I would do is buy me a lottery ticket! Why did I have to be a citizen? My parents can never do anything right!
One thing I think of when I hear "lottery winner" is they are usually old and or retired. Not always but usually.
Beahappi - you are so right, wtf? what's up with the curtains?? What about the restrooms, you know if they would work, customers would probably stay longer and shop some more instead of having to leave to go find the nearest restroom. LOL!!
In Camarillo the doors in the fr's don't close properly! LOL!!!
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