Heartless criminals taking advantage of people who honestly bought a lottery ticket. Be cautious.

By Pepper Parr

BURLINGTON, ON.  May 17, 2013.  I’ve got one – it was given to me as a gift and every couple of weeks I go on-line to see if MY number won.  So I might listen to anyone calling to say they were from the Heart and Stroke Foundation and telling me that I had won a prize.

Halton Regional Police Service are asking seniors to be cautious when receiving phone solicitations from people claiming to be calling on behalf of the Heart and Stroke Lottery or Mega-Millions.

Police have received information that a male caller is phoning seniors, claiming to be with one of these two lotteries, and stating that the individual has won $2.5 Million dollars and a 2013 Mercedes. 

Regular Heart and Stroke Lottery players would have known a call for a $2.5 million dollar prize was a scam.

That $2.5 million prize would have alerted me.  Heart and Stroke doesn`t have prizes in that range – they have daily prizes of $5000 and a weekly prize of $10,000 – so I would have known right away that this was a scam.

The anonymous male gives the victim a claim number and instructs them to go to the closest Western Union Outlet.  He often offers to provide a phone number to the victim so they can locate the nearest Western Union outlet to their location.

 The victim is then instructed to send $300 to another party in West Mooreland, Jamaica, get a receipt and then call the male back so they can arrange for the phony prize to be delivered.  The male party asks for personal information about the victim, such as their name, age, marital status, and address. 

Seniors are reminded to not provide anyone with personal information over the telephone unless they themselves initiate the call.  If you’re ever in doubt – call the police or speak to a friend.  If it sounds to good to be true – that usually means it isn’t true.

 

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