THUNDER BAY – CRIMEBEAT – In Midland Ontario scammers have taken a fairly well known Internet scam into the local community. The Midland Police Service are warning residents to beware of persons calling stating that they have won a lottery. The callers target vulnerable victims, telling them they have won a large sum of money. The caller will tell the victim that they need to wire money to them in order to claim the prize. The location of the wires can be out of country or in country.
Inspector Wheeldon with the MPS shares, “If the call seems too good to be true, it is!”
In Midland, the scammers are using local couriers to collect the funds needed in order to collect the lottery winnings. MPS report that “In a recent local incident, a victim was prepared to turn over thousands of dollars. The victim was told a courier would attend to retrieve the money. Police were aware of this and were able to intercept the courier”.
Further investigation revealed that the courier was being promised money to drive around the province and retrieve money orders from the victims; the courier had no information of the lottery scam.
The suspect(s) in this case had accents from several different countries. These people are insistent and persistent in how they engage their vulnerable targets.
If you hear of these kinds of scams, notify your local police right away about any calls that request money be sent.