After one senior was told he one $24.9 million in a national sweepstakes lottery, the Norfolk county resident was defrauded for $152,000 after the lottery turned out to be nothing more than the latest scam.
Norfolk County OPP say the senior was contacted by phone between April 2016 to Oct. 31, 2017. The unknown caller said the homeowner had won an International Sweepstakes Lottery valued at $24.9 million US, and would have to send money through wire transfers to cover taxes.
This sweepstakes lottery scam is the latest in a slew of scams targeting seniors in southern Ontario in last few months. Most recently, a twist on the decades old CRA scam has been making the rounds, defrauding multiple Orangeville residents out of thousands. The OPP are warning people to hang up when called by anyone who claims you’ve won a lot of money from a sweepstakes lottery or a new vehicle.
“Don’t become a statistic,” said Const. Ed Sanchuk. “Fraud is a multi-billion dollar enterprise that will only stop when the scammers stop getting money, banking information or personal information. The best thing to do is to simply hang up the phone.”
Read the full story over at the CBC.
