San Diego County Crime Stoppers and investigators from the San Diego Police Department’s economic crimes unit are asking for assistance from the public to help identify and locate at least three unknown suspects wanted in connection with a lottery scam.
Detectives said over the last several years, a lottery scam has been operating off and on in San Diego County.
There are at least four known cases identified so far. In all cases, suspects have targeted middle-aged to elderly Hispanic females. The female suspect approaches the victim requesting help finding a certain location. The female will appear to be in some type of distress or desperation and in a hurry.
The female suspect will pretend she is new to the USA. After a few seconds with the victim, a male will approach seemingly out of nowhere. He pretends not to know the female in distress and offers his help. They convince the victim to ride with them in his van. Once in the van the female confesses she is actually looking for help in cashing a winning lottery ticket.
The scam continues with the male making a telephone call to the Lottery department. At this point all 3 suspects, (one on the telephone) convince the victim she can make some money if she helps with cashing the ticket. They ask the victim to put money up front in order to collect the winnings. In all cases the victim is promised at least $10,000.00 dollars in return.
Vehicle Description: Possibly a grey, silver, or light green Chrysler or Dodge minivan, late 90’s to mid 2000’s.
Male Suspect 1 Description: Hispanic male in his mid 40’s, 5’04”-5’-08” tall, normal build, well dressed/casual, all cases wearing a driving cap.
Male Suspect 2 Description: No description available.
Female Suspect Description: Hispanic female, mid 40’s, 5’04”-5’-06” tall, medium to heavy build, pony tail, pretends to be Cuban or South American.
Anyone with information on this case should call the SDPD economic crimes unit at (619) 446-1031 or the Crime Stoppers anonymous tip line at (888) 580-8477.
Crime Stoppers is offering up to a $1,000 reward to anyone with information that leads to an arrest in this case. Anonymous email and text messages can be sent in via www.sdcrimestoppers.com.