Police: New City Woman Loses $8,500 In Telephone Scam

Lured by the promise of a $350,000 payout, a New City woman has been scammed out of $8,500 by thieves who said they wanted to help her collect a sweepstakes prize she had won, according to Clarkstown police.

The woman, 58, was so convinced by her telephone conversations that she was getting the prize money that she sent the scammers three separate payments via West Union.

Clarkstown detectives are investigating the scam, which began when the woman received a phone call at home in February from a man claiming to be from the “Federal Trace Commission” saying he had discovered she had won a prize through the “Mutual Liberty Sweeps.”

Police said the woman was told she could claim her $350,000 prize by submitting a $3,500 processing fee. The woman sent the money via Western Union, but never received the prize.

The prize award, police said, seemed believable to the woman because she was given contact information and a tracking number for her prize. When the woman called to find out when she would be receiving her money, police said she then spoke with someone claiming to be with “Lloyds of America,” who said the woman would have to send another $3,500 because of a supposed problem with the first payment that was sent.

Police said the victim did send another $3,500 via Western Union. And, the women would go on to send another $1,500 when she was told by telephone that her payment was held up by “customs” and she needed to pay to have her prize released.

The Western Union payments went to Greenville, SC, police said. The victim contacted Clarkstown police about the scam on Friday.

The New City woman is the third Clarkstown resident since December 2010 to tell police they’ve been the victims of scams. In December, a town resident was cheated out of $2,540 through a “mystery shopper” e-mail scam, and in January another resident lost $3,000 after responding to a letter from England that indicated he had won a big lottery.