STPSO Recovers $80,000 for Elderly Couple

Detectives with the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office's Financial Crimes Division recently learned a couple in Slidell was notified by email they had won $25,000,000 in the “mega-millions lottery” and was directed to wire money for taxes and processing fees to Oregon. THE SCAM CONTINUED. Soon after wiring the money, the elderly couple was contacted by scammers, who identified themselves as “government agents” investigating the mega-millions lottery as a fraudulent money laundering operation. The couple was told to continue sending money, as directed, so the “government agents” could track down the scammers.

The STPSO immediately identified this as an international scam. For the next two days, STPSO detectives worked feverishly with financial institutions across several states to stop the scam. Investigators were ultimately able to recover approximately $80,000 of the elderly couple’s money.

The St Tammany Parish Sheriff’s Office reminds you to be suspicious of ANY unsolicited emails, phone calls and texts, which claim you have won a contest or are eligible to receive anything of value, especially, if you did not apply for it. In most cases, by the time law enforcement is notified, the money has been funneled out of the country, and is not recoverable.