Elderly woman victim in scam

A 75-year-old Jamestown woman lost more than $19,000 to a scam from July to earlier this month, according to the Jamestown Police Department.

The woman was told over the phone that she won a large amount of money through a sweepstakes, said Sgt. Leroy Gross, an investigator with the department.

She was originally contacted last October and through high-pressure tactics the scammers convinced her to start to wire funds this summer, Gross said.

She asked how she won the prize because she hadn’t entered any sweepstakes and was told it was because she had a good credit rating, he said. She was told the funds were needed for taxes, duty fees and lawyer fees. In total she lost $19,134.

“If you don’t want to be a victim of a scam, don’t ever wire money,” Gross said.

Valerie Koble, an employee at Hugo’s, alerted the police of the wire transfers, he said.

The case has been turned over to the FBI in Minneapolis.

Tags: local news, news, scam