He was called and notified he had won the Publisher’s Clearing House contest. The elderly man had entered the contest and had every reason to believe his day had arrived.
He would receive a 2022 Land Rover, $6,000 in actual spending cash, and $6.5 million in his bank account, as well as $5,000 a month for life to help him pay his bills.
The Times subscriber followed the directions the caller, “Dan Lewis” issued. He was told to send money via Green Dot cards purchased through Wal-Mart, and to read the numbers on the cards to him on the phone once he had them in hand. This was done several times, with the victim continually returning to the store to purchase more of the “gift cards”, for a total of about $2,800 out of pocket. The unsuspecting victim even borrowed money from family to complete the pre-award fee-paying.
A second caller “John Wilson”, also was in contact with the proposed winner to reassure him of his huge win. Both callers identified themselves as the “Federal Trade Commission Department of Publishers Clearing House”.
The man believes that, to secure delivery of his winnings, he may have given out his address, and social security number to the callers.
He was told as of Monday, that everything was all set and he should receive his winnings later that day. That did not happen.
Even after hearing from others, including this newspaper, that this was a scam, and he should not continue to speak with the callers or send…