WINTER HAVEN, Fla. (WFLA) – Winter Haven police are warning residents about a lottery scam after thieves targeted Walmart customers in two separate incidents.
Police want people to be extremely wary of anyone who approaches them saying they have a lottery ticket, but need cash to receive the ticket because they’re not a U.S. citizen.
Detectives say at noon on Nov. 17, the 58 year-old victim was in the pet food aisle of a Winter Haven Walmart store when he was approached by a Hispanic male in his mid-twenties
The suspect asked the victim if he knew of a good food for a young puppy. Shortly afterwards, a female suspect approached the pair and struck up a conversation.
She told the victim that she has a winning Florida Lottery ticket worth $700,000, but she was unable to cash the ticket because she is not a legal United States citizen.
The male suspect then called what appeared to be the Florida Lottery offices and a female answered the phone. The female on the phone asked for the numbers on the ticket and “verified” it as a winning ticket.
The female suspect then told the victim and the male suspect she would split the money with them, but she needed $5,000 in order to pay her boss, who knew of her illegal status and she was afraid of him.
The male suspect then asked the victim how much he could come up with. The victim indicated he would be able to get $1,700 and then the male suspect said he could come up with the rest.
The victim then left Walmart with the two suspects and parked at a store close to his home. The victim then walked to his home while the suspects stayed inside of the vehicle.
The victim walked back to the vehicle with the money and the pair then drove the victim back to Walmart. Then, the female suspect started complaining that she had stomach pains.
She asked the victim to go inside Walmart to get her some juice. The victim obliged, but left the $1,700 and his cell phone inside of the car.
When he came back out, the suspects and his money were gone.
Police say this was the second incident of this type in Winter Haven in the past few weeks.
On Oct. 23, an elderly citizen was approached by a Hispanic female at the same Walmart. The Hispanic female attempted to ask about a real estate office, however there was a language barrier.
A Hispanic male approached and offered to help translate. The female (through the translation) told the citizen she had a winning lottery ticket, but due to her illegal status she couldn’t cash in the ticket.
The male called a number, supposedly to the Florida Lottery office, and after reading off the numbers was told the ticket was worth $500,000.
He handed the phone to the citizen to give his bank information to the person on the other end of the line.
The citizen became suspicious and refused to give out his information and they parted ways.
In either of these incidents, no threat of bodily harm was reported and nobody was injured. Police say it is unknown if the same suspects were involved in both Winter Haven incidents.
“The word needs to get out that these types of scams are continuing and will not go away any time soon,” said Winter Haven Police Chief Charlie Bird.
“These types of lottery scams have been around for years where victims get scammed of their hard-earned money.”
The suspects are both Hispanic in their early to mid-twenties. The male has dark skin tone, is 5’9″ tall and has short curly black hair.
The female suspect has a light skin tone, is 5’9″ tall and has long black hair and a black tattoo on her right shoulder.
Anyone with information about their identities is asked to call Heartland Crime Stoppers at 1-800-226-TIPS (8477) Callers are guaranteed anonymity and could be eligible for a CASH reward of up to $3,000.
Police say a third female is seen in surveillance video walking around Walmart behind the female suspect. Tht third female appears to be a lookout and did not get in the vehicle with the victim.STORIES OTHERS ARE CLICKING ON-
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