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Colorado Lottery Warns of Scheme Preying on Elderly

Colorado Lottery Warns of Scheme Preying on Elderly

Denver, CO –The Colorado Lottery has teamed up with Denver and Front Range police agencies to warn of a scam that purports to involve claiming so-called winning "lottery" tickets. In the past seven months, since May, more than $239,000 has been lost to teams of professional con artists targeting non-English- speaking elderly persons.

It’s a new variation on an old con game called a "pigeon drop," in which a con artist approaches unsuspecting parties offering them a winning Lottery ticket in exchange for cash. The fraud doesn’t always claim that the ticket is a jackpot winner, but sometimes apparently claims the ticket is a lower tier prizewinner.

Lottery security officials have been conferring with police from Denver, Lakewood, Wheat Ridge and Westminster, and are formulating a plan to combat the con game. Surveillance photos of two suspects are being circulated to media statewide.

The con game has also been seen in other lottery states with high Spanish-speaking populations, such as Florida, Texas, Arizona and California.

"In some cases, victims have lost as much as $30,000 and $29,000…money they’d worked all their lives to save. We know of 22 fraud cases, and we’ve just begun to scratch the surface of the number of victims," said Lottery investigator Jim Kirby

In some instances the person with "the ticket" will claim to be non-English speaking and new to this country, and will offer to sign the winning ticket over to the innocent person in exchange for cash. Sometimes the con will have an acquaintance that acts like a bystander who will pass by and point out that the ticket is a winner. The innocent person will withdraw funds from their bank account, only to be cheated out of their cash when they find out the ticket is not a legitimate winner.

Kirby said Denver is investigating one case in which an elderly man was kicked and suffered a fractured leg because he refused to give up his money. Victims are often approached in the parking lots of large discount stores or discount groceries.

(Without checking the official Colorado Lottery numbers, it’s impossible to ascertain a Lotto or Powerball ticket is a winner on its face. Scratch tickets display winning symbols. However, Lottery retailers can instantly validate any ticket.)

Despite the claim made in the scheme that lottery tickets cannot be held by immigrants in the country illegally, undocumented aliens can claim a Lotto or Powerball jackpot as long as the ticket wasn’t stolen. Their winning jackpot check will include deductions at the highest tax rate of 35 percent.

The Colorado Lottery advises the public to be aware of the potential scam, to avoid any situations like this and to please notify Investigator Kirby, at 303-759-6829, or local law enforcement immediately.

The Colorado Lottery of course provides all winning numbers to interested persons in retail locations throughout Colorado and on the Colorado Lottery web site, www.coloradolottery.com. Numbers can also be found in both Denver daily newspapers.